The Truth Beneath the Rose
by Nona Decima Morta
Summary: After escaping house arrest from Carlisle, Edward vows revenge on the Cullens and begins killing and drinking blood of humans. That was until he meets Bella, who tries to survive by convincing Edward there's no need for him to be the beast of revenge...
1. Prologue

Prologue

**Edward Cullen**

I sat in front of my father, Dr Carlisle Cullen, glowering at him. My mother Esme, stood next to him, a worried expression on her face.

My siblings Alice, Emmett, Rosalie and Jasper stood against the wall behind me. I could feel them shifting around uncomfortably. I heard them softly murmuring to one another, which made me madder than I already am.

Family meetings like these are rare.

As in _extremely _rare.

The only time we have family meetings is either when the werewolves are threatening to attack, events in the vampire world or when we misbehave very badly.

Sitting on a wooden chair in front of my parents with my siblings whispering behind me obviously meant I was in big trouble.

"Edward," said Carlisle calmly. "I've heard disturbing news about your behaviour."

"Oh yeah?" I said sulkily. I was in no mood to be reprimanded.

"Edward, my son. What has gotten into you? I received news from your school principal, stating that you play truancy at least twice a week and your grades are slipping. Your grades were straight As for the last few years! What happened?"

"That's none of your business, old man!"

"Edward!" said Esme, shocked. "Apologise to your father at once!"

The whisperings from my siblings had stopped. They were all interested in our conversation. I was getting angrier by the minute.

"Edward," said Esme impatiently. "Apologise to your father! We have nurtured and taken care of you since you were born! Your father had to do extra shifts and you know how risky it is? Spending all that time with those humans? Those days when he had to work twenty four hours straight without hunting for animal blood? You know how much that _pained_ him?"

"Esme," said Carlisle, pained. "Did you really have to mention that?"

"I told you that you should bring some animal blood with you!" scolded Alice. "And you work near human blood! Tonight, I'm going to add a bottle of animal blood into your bag. If you dare take it out, I'll go to your workplace and drop it off!"

Jasper and Emmett sniggered.

"Look," I said, annoyed. "_Old man_. I don't care if my grades are slipping! It's none of your concern anymore! I'm eighteen years old! This is my life! I control my own life! Not you! I don't care if we're all vampires and family members, but you're not in charge of my life! I don't care if you want me to go back to school, because I WON'T!"

I stood up and kicked the leg of Carlisle's study table.

"EDWARD!" screeched Esme. "Mind where you're kicking! That desk costed a thousand dollars and is made from pure mahogany!"

I snorted and kicked the desk again and again until I noticed a small dent.

Esme spotted it too.

"You bastard!" she hissed in rage. "This desk-"

"Esme," sighed Carlisle. "Drop it. I'll send the desk to my friend who can fix it for free. I have other desks to work on while this one's going in repair."

I rolled my eyes.

"As for you, Edward," said Carlisle, his eyes fixing on me. "I won't forget this conversation. You'll be going back to school tomorrow and I expect better grades from you and no truancy. If you don't improve, you'll be punished greatly."

"Yeah, whatever," I said sarcastically.

"I am serious. To ensure you won't miss another day of school or fail another test, I'm going to have you under close watch."

"That will never happen. Who's gonna keep an eye on me during school hours?"

"Don't worry," said Carlisle with a little smirk. "That's all taken care of. I don't even have to pay him to

keep an eye on you. I'm sure you'll be satisfied with your jailer. You've known each other for most of your lives. You won't have any trouble getting along."

"Who is it?"

"Me, little bro," spoke Emmett from the back of the room.

I groaned.

"And that's not all of your punishment," continued Carlisle. "When you return from school, you'll be confined to your room-"

"You can't stop me going anywhere I wanna go!" I growled.

"Actually. I can. This conversation is over. Go to your room. I do not wish to speak to you of this matter again. I'm interested in watching Alice and Rosalie's fashion show. Talking to you is like talking to a juvenile delinquent who won't behave in prison."

"You can't boss me around!"

"In fact, I can. Emmett! Your job starts now! Make sure little Eddie doesn't stray from his room and have a tantrum in his room!"

Emmett cracked his knuckles and grinned at me.

I glanced around the room furiously.

"Don't you think about it Edward!" said Alice at once. "Emmett! Get him before he jumps out of the window and escapes!"

Damn!

I had neglected to think about Alice and her ability to see the future.

Without much of an option (and Emmett getting unfortunately closer to me) other than defeat, I ran and jumped out of the window.

"_That window's made of Bohemian Glass!"_

I opened my eyes and looked around.

I was in my room, but why was I on a bed? Vampires don't sleep and they don't get major injuries. They recover very quickly.

I tried to sit up, but found myself chained to the bed.

What the Hell?

Someone had injected me with tranquiliser and that made me as weak as a kitten. There's no way I could break out of these chains in my present condition. This must be Carlisle's doing! I regretted jumping out of the window.

"Woken up from your long sleep?"

Emmett and his sarcasms.

"Shut up!" I snapped.

"Aww, little Eddie's grumpy," sniggered Emmett, tickling my chin. "What's wrong? Your arms and legs all cramped? Too bad! You shouldn't have jumped!"

"Cut it out!"

"Make me! Oops, I forgot! You CAN'T! You would've had more freedom if you didn't rebel against Carlisle and jump out the window! Esme isn't happy you broke her window made from Bohemian Glass that costed a thousand five hundred dollars."

"I don't give a fuck what Esme thinks!"

"You should! Esme has the ability to passionately love her family without any trouble and she's the only one with the complete power to twist Carlisle around her little finger! You killed the mahogany table and the Bohemian Glass! You think that'll win her over to your side?"

"What are you trying to say? I should apologise for my actions to Esme? I don't regret them! It's just a table and a window!"

"So you're saying that you want to be imprisoned for the rest of your life?"

"I _won't_ be imprisoned for the rest of my life!"

"Yeah right. At this rate, you will. As a big brother, I'm telling you that the only way you can gain freedom and trust is by apologising!"

"And how the Hell am I supposed to apologise if I'm chained to this bed?"

"I'll fetch Esme. You've been out for half an hour and Carlisle had been comforting Esme the whole time and promising to repair the window."

"How can she be so affectionate to a stupid window?"

"Dunno bro, but I guess it's a female thing."

"A female thing? Do you see Rosalie deciding what colours to tint it with? Or do you see Alice cooing over it as if it's a baby or something? Being affectionate to a window isn't human. It's not vampire either. I think it's more alien or Martian."

"So you're calling Esme an alien? Want me to tell her that?"

"Don't you dare!"

"When do you want me to bring Esme in?"

"Now."

I had no intention in apologising to that crazy bitch. She would probably consider extending my confinement until the end of five years.

Emmett returned with Esme.

I noticed Esme had red eyes.

Probably from crying about the loss of her Bohemian Glass window.

"What?" she said sourly. "If you want food, it's not time yet. You'll be on a strict diet from now on. I won't have you eating food any time you want. And no, you're not getting your freedom any day soon. By the way, Carlisle changed his mind. You won't be going back to school tomorrow. You're dropping out and you won't be attending school ever again."

"What's the catch?" I said cautiously.

"You'll be homeschooled and will go to university to graduate as a doctor. That way you'll have no chance of escaping."

"Don't you trust me anymore?"

"Of course not! Especially after that clever, little stunt of yours out the window!"

"There's always such thing as teenage angst! Or should I call it vampire angst? I don't have to behave like your perfect vampire kid all the time! You're not even my real mother! My real mother would never keep me confined in this room!"

Uh-oh.

I had hit dangerous territory.

Esme preferred thinking that the five of us were her 'real' children from birth, not her adopted children from 'vampire birth'.

Esme's eyes narrowed and her lips pursed.

"Enjoy your term of imprisonment," she hissed. "I expect a more mannered and respective little boy when I come and check on you at the end of term. Be thankful that today's the last day of the holidays and you get a full ten-week imprisonment."

"I was-" I began.

"I don't give a damn what you want or care! You brought this upon yourself! If you weren't rude to Carlisle and didn't injure the table and window! I'll be looking forward to see your behaviour change next term! Goodbye Edward."

She shot me a dirty look and departed.

Emmett snorted and sat on the chair next to me.

"You blew your chance," he said, pulling out his Nintendo DS. "There's no way Esme will forgive you in the next few days. She'll recommend extra punishment for you. You know her persuasiveness over Carlisle and thirst of love and vengeance. Your fault you upsetted Esme by saying that. You know she wants to think we're her real children."

"You could've helped," I said grumpily.

"Hell no! I'm not getting myself into your mess. I have better things to do! Like trying to beat Alice and Rosalie's high scores on Mario Party."

"If you're gonna be baby sitting me for ten weeks, how about school?"

"Don't worry your little head about it. Carlisle's got it all sorted out. Rosalie's gonna collect my sheets

and notifications when I'm looking after you. We're all going to take turns baby sitting you. The five of us will take two weeks off term taking care of you!"

"Five of you?"

"Me, Jasper, Rosalie, Alice and Esme or Carlisle. Esme and Carlisle will be taking alternate turns in their turn session. Carlisle's worried about his work load and Esme's trying to convince him to take time off. I wonder if she'll be successful."

"Hopefully she does. Two weeks with Esme will be horrible!"

"Oh, come on! Two weeks with Esme won't be that bad! She'll be spoon feeding you under the fantasy that you're her baby."

"Please don't tell me you'll be spoon feeding me."

Emmett grinned at me.

Just grinned.

_Two Weeks Passed._

Emmett had finished his time of babysitting me.

I was still confined to the bed, but Carlisle had agreed in unchaining me (but injecting me with a little morphine) so I can eat myself.

I wonder who'll be my jailer now.

It'll be either Rosalie or Jasper.

Hopefully it's Jasper.

Rosalie's nice, but even as adoptive brother and sister, I find her beauty and attractiveness quite uncomfortable. Especially when we're alone. She doesn't talk much (she mostly admires herself in an antique, exquisite, jewelled mirror or decides silently what jewellery to wear), but even when she doesn't speak, her ability to charm men (vampires included) is extraordinary. Even when she bats her long eyelashes (dabbed with mascara), anyone would fall for her.

Jasper has the ability to make the atmosphere fuzzy and warm (which would be bad on a hot, Summer's day), but apart from that, he seems dark and quiet.

Out of all my siblings, I preferred having Alice as my jailer, since she talks to me without making fun of me, and our chess games are entertaining.

The door opened.

Hopefully it's Jasper.

I opened my eyes and to my disappointment, it was Rosalie.

"Hello Edward," said Rosalie, pulling out her mirror. "Esme's hunting with Jasper, so Carlisle will be here in a couple of minutes with your breakfast."

"What is it?" I asked, expecting a short answer.

"Blood porridge."

I hate blood porridge.

Carlisle had been experimenting blending human food and animal blood together to make edible and tasty food, since drinking animal blood the whole time was quite bland. So far, he had succeeded in making blood porridge (which was quite tasty for the first couple of days), blood pudding (which was a combination of blood and bread pudding), blood eggs (scrambled eggs with blood sauce) and blood smoothie (banana smoothie with blood).

Blood porridge was now just too disgusting to describe.

Looking at Rosalie gave me an idea to break free of this imprisonment once and for all. Rosalie is smart, but vague. Knowing her, she probably forgot about what happened to me.

"Rosalie," I said, in a hurt tone. "Can you help me?"

"What?" said Rosalie, glancing at me. "You aren't in such a bad condition."

"I'm in confinement for two weeks already! My posture will be uneven and there'll be chain marks and bruises on my wrists and ankles! Imagine how bad I'll look!"

"Esme can give you some cream when she takes over looking after you."

"Rosalie! I'm begging you! Alice would be tattling on me any second now! You know she's a mother's

little girl. I need you help! You can get away with helping me! If it was Jasper or Emmett, they won't help me anyway! Please, please, please, PLEASE! I'll do anything to repay you if you can just release my chains just this one!"

"Okay then…"

I felt a pang of regret when I thought of what I was planning to do to her. Rosalie would never forgive me for my future actions.

I sighed in relief when Rosalie unchained my ankles.

I stretched my arms when Rosalie released me.

"You'll need a lot of cream," said Rosalie, eyeing one of my bruises on my wrists. "And some bandages and stuff. You're bleeding. I can't believe Carlisle didn't know the risks and consequences of chaining you to a bed for weeks."

"Carlisle!" yelled Alice from the ground floor. "It's Edward!"

Rosalie and I froze.

The door was kicked open and Carlisle, Jasper and Alice ran in, Carlisle had armed himself with a needle full of morphine or some anaesthetic.

Without thinking, I grabbed Rosalie's neck.

**Rosalie Cullen**

It had felt like time had stopped.

When I felt Edward's arm around my waist and his hand around my neck, I had flashbacks of my life before my vampire birth.

"Edward," said Carlisle smoothly. "You aren't thinking right. Surviving for two weeks on blood porridge and being chained for that long would make a vampire insane. Let Rosalie go. Take your anger out at me, not her. Rosalie didn't do anything to you."

Edward was panting heavily.

"He's gonna run for it," said Alice rapidly.

Edward snarled in anger and his hand tightened around my neck.

I gasped in pain.

"Alice," said Carlisle calmly. "Please leave. Your ability is very helpful, but not necessary at the moment, alright? Please go."

Alice glanced at me and Edward for a few seconds and left.

Jasper's eyes flickered at me and then at Edward.

I felt the room increase in temperature and sensed the familiar fuzziness and warmth of Jasper's ability in making the room warm.

"Stop it Jasper!" growled Edward. "Keep warming the room if you want Rosalie's neck snapped and attending her funeral! I'm not joking with you! If you want Rosalie alive and keeping Alice occupied, stop what you're doing and step aside!"

Carlisle nodded.

He dropped the needle and kicked it aside and raised his hands in surrender.

Jasper stopped his ability and casually sat on the chair with his hands raised and behind his head. His eyes were still alternatively flickering between Edward and me.

"Sorry Rosalie," Edward murmured. "You should've prayed to have dark hair or been just a bit uglier or less captivating. I didn't want to do this to you, but I had no choice. Blame Carlisle for imprisoning me in the first place."

He dragged me out of the room.

**Edward Cullen**

In truth, I didn't want to hurt Rosalie.

It was just unfortunate for her that she was so attractive and just as persuasive and mind-luring as Esme in Carlisle's mind.

I hated Alice for her part in wanting me imprisoned.

If it wasn't for her and her stupid future-seeing powers, I wouldn't have to take Rosalie as hostage to regain my freedom.

I loathed Jasper for his fuzzy powers.

If he didn't try to make me sleepy with that fuzziness and warmth, I wouldn't have been angrier than I needed to and Rosalie's neck might not have marks on it and her eyes won't be welled up in tears. I wished I could rewind time.

After dragging poor Rosalie down two flights of stairs, I reached the front door.

"Goodbye Rosalie," I said, releasing her. "I hope we meet again."

I opened the door and ran through the forests at a hundred kilometres per fifteen minutes. Carlisle can never catch me at this speed.

I was finally free!


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter I

**Edward Cullen**

_Two Years Later_

I went to my supply closet for another bottle of animal blood.

It was Winter time and animals rarely come into the open forests now. Bears were hibernating in their caves and other animals stayed in hiding to keep warm. I had been intelligent enough to store up my supply of animal blood like squirrels store up nuts for the Winter. I had also changed forests a couple of times in case Carlisle's hunting for me.

I rented a small house in the neighbouring city of Sequim and hoped Carlisle and Esme won't travel out of Forks to hunt me down.

I knew I needed money and a job without wasting anymore time.

I had persuaded the owner I'll pay by the end of the month (I hadn't paid for two years) and he wasn't very happy about it, but he accepted.

I had no résumés to recommend me for jobs, and no one I wanted contact with to represent me in businesses. There's no way employers would hire me due to my paleness and unfriendliness. They would think I'm some sort of killer or something.

As I drank some animal blood, I read the newspaper and noticed an interesting article about the Washington Bank in Sequim.

Apparently, the bank's security had improved greatly and the bank manager John Mesling, boasted that his band will be 'unrobbable' and will be the 'best and greatest bank in Clallum County, Washington'. Love to see that in action.

After reading the newspaper, an idea formed in my head…

"Quick and easy," I said aloud.

I would rob that bank and prove to the world that the Sequim Washington Bank is just as unprotected as any other bank and Mesling is liar.

I changed from my t-shirt and jeans to black clothes and pulled out the make up kit I had stolen from Rosalie a couple of months before my escape.

I thanked my lucky stars that I still have the comb I pinched off Alice and I combed my hair until it was straight and in a female fashion. I painted mascara on my eye lashes and eye liner on my eyes. I placed lip stick on my lips and went to the shed.

I pulled out the can of black paint spray and stood in front of a mirror.

I sprayed my hair with black paint and recombed my hair. I made sure there was no brown hair unsprayed on my head.

After spraying my hair, I clipped a pair of clip-on earrings onto my ears.

I looked at myself in the mirror and smiled.

If no one looks at me too closely, I could be made out to be a woman. If my disguise pulls off, Mesling will think that a woman robbed his bank.

I still need…a dress.

I left the house and went to the Sequim Shopping Village, which's a few blocks away from the Sequim Washington Bank.

I was glad not many people were about and no one was in the dress shop apart from the owner and her assistant. I would be more embarrassed of going into a dress shop if it was Thursday (shopping day) or Sunday (discount day).

The owner stared at me when I entered her shop.

"May I help you?" she asked.

The assistant stared at me, frowning.

She was probably trying to figure out whether I was a female trying to be a man or a man trying to be a woman. I must've done a good job disguising myself.

I knew I was of medium size and not as muscly as Emmett, but not as skinny as Jasper. As for finding a black dress, I think I'll need a large size at the most. Maybe a medium. Hopefully the owner and the assistant won't recognise me as a man.

I pulled out a cheap quality black dress and a few other ones and headed into the changing rooms. I

decided to try the biggest one first. My plan _must _work or I sprayed my hair and suffered through this embarrassment and self-humiliation for nothing!

I looked at myself in the mirror.

If Carlisle accepted my truancy and bad grades, I would've never ran away from the Cullen House and I would never have to be in this situation.

I glared at the mirror for no particular reason.

Probably it reminded me of the mirror Carlisle gave Rosalie.

I blinked and decided the dress I tried on would do. Once I rob the bank as planned, I'll throw the dress into a river.

It's only ten dollars ninety nine cents.

I took off the dress and went out from the changing room to the cashier counter.

I felt the assistant's eyes at my back.

I ignored it.

I quickly paid for the dress and left for Sequim Washington Bank. I stopped on the way and went eyed the public bathrooms. I was tempted to go into the male bathroom, but forced myself to enter the female one to change clothes.

I fixed up my hair and make up and adjusted my dress.

I left the cubicle and checked my hair again at the mirror.

Another woman came from a different cubicle and looked at me strangely. I ignored her and continued fixing up my hair.

After a few minutes, I left the bathroom and went into Sequim Washington Bank.

The first thing I noticed was four cameras at the front desks. Mesling wasn't joking about security improvement in the Bank.

There were also more security guards.

I began wondering whether I could pull off my plan after all. I should've checked security before I decided to rob the bank.

"Excuse me Madam," said a voice behind me. "May I help you with something?"

I turned around and saw John Mesling in an expensive suit, shiny shoes and dark sunglasses looking at me expectedly. I noticed Mesling had an expensive Rolex watch on his wrist and a wedding ring on his finger. Hmm…Mesling's married…

"I'm fine," I said in a tone a little higher than my usual tone.

Mesling frowned slightly.

"Who are you?" he asked suspiciously. "Can I see your bank book please?"

I forced myself to laugh a girlish giggle.

God, that was a terrible mistake.

Even I could tell it was a phony giggle. That just made Mesling's frown deepen and look even more suspiciously at me.

I leant forward and pretended to dig through my handbag.

While Mesling looked away impatiently, I whacked him on the head with my handbag and grabbed his neck from behind.

A security guard rushed forward, but I kicked him against the wall.

_Crack._

Ouch.

He must've broken a couple of bones.

My bad.

Everyone stopped in their tracks and stared at me.

I felt Mesling shaking like a leaf against me. I lightly kicked his leg and he collapsed against me. There was whispering among the front desks.

"Give me the bank vault keys," I growled in my 'female' voice. "If you don't, I'll snap your neck in half

and go after your wife and children. I know where you live. I know where they are. I know where your wife

works. I know what school your children go to. If you don't cooperate with me, you die and your family gets seriously hurt."

"H-here," whimpered Mesling.

His hand shaking, he handed me his set of keys. All the security guards had their guns at their feet and their hands raised.

"Lead the way!" I ordered.

Shaking madly, Mesling led me to the vaults.

I opened the vault and my eyes shone. I threw Mesling onto the ground and stepped on his chest. I opened my bag and stuffed boxes of a hundred dollar notes and other money into it. I knew it couldn't last me forever, but I was considering to make a house in the woods.

After I finished filling my bag with money, I pulled Mesling up by the neck and dragged him to the door effortlessly and painlessly.

I squeezed his neck and cackled when he gasped, turning purple in the face. I controlled myself and flung him against another security guard and sent both of them flying. Hopefully they'll break some bones and land in hospital.

I calmly smiled at the security camera and walked out the door.

**Dr Carlisle Cullen**

_Two Days Later_

"Listen to this," said Alice, reading the newspaper. "Sequim Washington Bank had been robbed, and in the process, Mr John Mesling's arm and leg were broken and a security guard was killed! The other security guard was seriously wounded, and at least a million dollars were stolen. That's the highest amount of money stolen from a bank!"

"Oh yeah?" I said, sipping blood tea. "What happened?"

"Oh gosh. This is hilarious! I can't even believe it! A few days ago, Mesling boasted that his bank is so secure, it's unrobbable. Well, he's humiliated, and the robber isn't an ordinary robber. It's a woman who's deadly pale with extra make up!"

Emmett choked on his blood porridge with laughter.

Even Jasper (who's always solemn and stiff) managed a smile.

Rosalie would've laughed if she heard the news. Esme might've too. Right now, Esme had taken a still-recovering Rosalie (she's still traumatized since Edward's escape two years ago) out shopping for jewellery (at Esme's expense).

I smiled to myself indulgently.

Alice is an obedient, energetic girl who I'll never be bored with, but Rosalie's still my oldest daughter and I still have a special fondness for her.

"A pale woman," murmured Jasper. "How interesting. Alice, is there a picture?"

"Yeah," said Alice, showing us the newspaper.

"Ugly girl…look's more like a man though. A man who's trying to disguise himself as a woman but overdid his make up and and powder. Seriously, how much powder did he put on himself? Why not wear a long dress to avoid all the hassle of powdering himself? And no one can injure Mesling and the security guards that hard."

"What are you suggesting?"

"A vampire robbed the bank. Not a human."

"No, that's not possible. Jasper, I can see every vampire's definite future plans, and none of them included robbing a bank."

"I'm serious. It's a vampire. That can explain the pale skin and access make up. Carlisle, take a closer look at the wounds on the security guard and Mesling. I'm not a doctor, but I can tell that the strength used to make those wounds are by a vampire."

I placed my cup down and took the newspaper from Alice.

"Kind of hard to see," I said, squinting at the small picture. "Just hold on a sec. It says that Mesling and

the security guard are still in hospital. I'll visit them a bit later. Can you pass me my magnify glass?"

Emmett handed me my magnify glass.

I studied the photos carefully and realised Jasper was right. With broken bones in both Mesling's arm and leg could be only done by a vampire.

"You're right," I agreed. "It's not possible. I can't see exactly what the injuries are, but I'm sure with my credentials that I can visit Mesling and the security guard. I guess that if I look closely at Mesling's neck, I'll be able to see abrasion marks."

I stood up and grabbed my coat.

"Jasper," I said, glancing at the dishes. "I know you might consider this a girly role, but can you please do the dishes today? Emmett, you're doing dishes tonight, so don't smirk that way. Alice, I need a private talk with you before I go. Oh, and when Esme and Rosalie come back, one of you tell Rosalie that I've given her a something in a package. It's in her room."

"Sure," said Jasper, rolling up his sleeves. "What did you get Rosalie?"

"Oh, nothing much. Just a pair of Ruby earrings and a matching necklace. Don't tell her that. It's supposed to be a surprise."

"How much was it?"

"You don't need to know that."

I went to the door and Alice followed me.

"You said you can see every vampires' decided future plans," I said quietly. "Is it every vampire in Forks, or every vampire in the world?"

"Every vampire in the world," Alice murmured. "But I only can see the ones in covens very clearly. I can't see futures of nomadic or loner vampires very clearly. Especially the loner ones. I can't even tell where they are. I can only feel if they're dead or alive. I can tell you that no coven vampire robbed that bank. It's either a loner vampire or a human."

"Ring me if you see anything else important."

I grabbed my briefcase and went to the garage.

Over years, I had built extensions to the garage (with Emmett's help) for the cars my children bought once they earnt their licences.

Everyone in my coven had their own car (Rosalie had two and Esme had three) and all of them (except Emmett's) looked brand new.

I shook myself from my thoughts and went into my car and drove off.

**John Mesling, Bank Manager**

I felt nothing but pain in all my surviving bones. That creep who robbed my bank had broken half the bones in my right arm and leg.

The security guard Bob Johnson was groaning in agony on the bed next to mine.

His neck was dislocated, his arms were bruised and broken and there were more injuries I don't particularly care to mention. Johnson had been given a whole list of antibiotics and prescriptions, but I don't think the anaesthetic's helping.

The door opened and a pale doctor entered with the nurse.

"I don't understand," said the nurse, glancing at us. "Your credentials say that you work in Forks Hospital. I don't get why you decided to take your time off work and come here to see Mr Mesling and Mr Johnson. I'm sure they're in pain, but we gave them medication. I can assure you that our doctors have excellent qualifications and all."

"I know," said the doctor, glancing at a piece of paper. "I see that both men have been assigned Dr Vera Staminov and Dr Anthony Rivers. I know both doctors. They're qualified men with high degrees. I just want to further investigate their injuries."

"Dr Cullen! They survived a robbery, not murder! I didn't know you're interested in investigating injuries of surviving victims! Why not investigate the body?"

"The body?"

"The dead security guard! Maybe you'll find interest there?"

"Ms Graham, I'm a medical doctor, not a Medical Examiner or anything related to police. I just want to

investigate the injuries. I'm sure the police would be happy if I help them with their robbery case. I excel in identifying injuries."

"Very well. Mr Mesling, Mr Johnson, this is Dr Carlisle Cullen from Forks Hospital."

Dr Cullen approached me with a smile.

"Good afternoon Mr Mesling," he greeted. "I'm Dr Cullen and I heard about your unfortunate injuries and your bank heist. I can assure you that I can find your attacker and robber once I look at your wounds in detail, and your neck."

"My neck?" I said, surprised. "What does my neck have to do with this? Apart from the fact that my attacker grabbed it-"

"Exactly. May I take a look?"

I struggled up and sat against the back of my bed.

Dr Cullen came closer and examined my neck. I flinched when I felt his cold, gloved hands touch the bruises on my neck.

He looked at my bruises and injuries a little while later and jotted down notes in his notepad. What happened to my other doctors?

"You said in the papers that the robber was a woman," Dr Cullen commented.

"Yeah," I said suspiciously. "She was wearing a black dress and a lot of make up. Her hair was short and she doesn't have pierced ears."

"The robber wasn't a woman."

"Wasn't?"

"If you think about it, no woman can have the strength to physically kill a security guard, seriously wound another security guard and put those abrasions on your neck. It's a man who robbed your bank, and a strong man."

"No, it can't be. The person who robbed my bank was tall and lean."

"Tall and lean men can be strong."

"The person who robbed my bank looked feminine rather than masculine. He-or she-was very pale, too pale to be a man."

"There's always such thing as a lot of make up. I'm telling you, your attacker was male. Once the police comes to see you again, tell them that your attacker was a man disguised as a female and give them my number if they want to clarify it. Here."

Dr Cullen placed his business card on my bedside table.

"Are you positive?" I asked.

"Hmm?" said Dr Cullen, putting his notepad into his pocket. "What did you say?"

"Are you positive that the attacker was a man, not a woman? I mean the clothing and make up is convincing, but is there any other proof?"

"Strength?"

"Oh yeah, apart from that too."

"A woman wouldn't rob a bank herself. She would do that with a partner. Women might murder people themselves, but they won't rob a bank themselves. It'll be too risky. Women are the more successful of the two genders anyway."

"So you're admitting your wife is more successful than you?"

"No. She's a housewife. Is that enough evidence for you to accept that your attacker was a strong, lean man, not a woman?"

"Yeah. That's enough evidence."

Dr Cullen smiled and stood up.

"I'll visit you another day," he promised.

I nodded and watched him leave.

**Dr Carlisle Cullen**

I drove back to my house, feeling satisfied with myself.

Mesling's attacker _was_ a vampire. In my entire life as a vampire and a doctor, I had never heard or seen

a vampire that robs banks before. It's too humane to imagine.

When I arrived back home, I saw Jasper jumping onto his motorcycle and putting on his helmet. He must be going to see old friends again.

"Rosalie and Esme are home!" he called to me. "I finished the dishes and Alice is waiting for you in your study! Emmett's in the backyard chopping up logs! We already have a full storage of logs, but he still enjoys the sport of chopping logs!"

I chuckled.

Emmett finds no better pleasure than chopping logs.

I went into the house.

"Hello dear," said Esme, kissing me on the cheek. "Alice said you went to see someone in hospital all the way in Sequim! Why were you there?"

"It's to do with the robbery," I answered. "I'm sure Alice would've told you about it. I'm not planning to help the police solve it, but I went to see the injured bank manager Mesling. I saw his injuries and that's what concerned me. A vampire robbed the bank."


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter II

**Edward Cullen**

_Four Days Since Bank Robbery_

I was furious.

I loved the publicity I was getting yesterday and the day before about my successful bank operation disguised as a woman, but now…

The tides have changed.

Someone had found out that I disguised myself as a woman and now it's top gossip on newspapers and most reviewers found it quite hilarious.

I discovered that Mesling told the police that a 'certain doctor' had inspected his injuries and convinced him that it was a man disguised as a woman and gave him his number for the police to clarify and discuss the evidence and proof.

I knew at once that this 'certain doctor' is none other than Carlisle.

He must've gotten wind about this!

Angrily, I scrunched up the newspapers and threw it into the bin.

Perfect shot.

I drank another bottle of blood, still fuming. How dare Carlisle get into this? That vampire would never leave my life!

I slammed the bottle onto the table and stood up.

I have to teach Carlisle a lesson.

In human circumstances, when a father interferes unhelpfully in his son's life, the son would most likely kill his father or do something bad out of spite or revenge. In vampire circumstances, none of the son-against-father revenge tips would work.

I glanced at the bottle of animal blood and a plan began formulating in my mind.

Carlisle's a doctor and hates vampires sucking blood out of people (human blood is an absolute delicacy in the vampire world. Some vampires get to drink it as much times as they like, but thanks to Carlisle, my siblings and I can't even drink it once). He thinks it's bad and made all of us vegetarians by drinking animal blood in substitute of human blood.

I think I'll try some human blood for myself.

I considered killing my land owner and drinking _his_ blood, but the police will get involved and arrest me for murdering him.

There must be another way…

I grabbed my hunting equipment (in case other hunters look at me suspiciously in the woods) and went into the forests.

I brought a clipboard, paper and pencil with me.

I'll be sketching my future house and deciding where to build it in the forest. The quicker I can sketch it, the quicker I can build it and begin my spree of killings.

That Mesling will pay with his life for humiliating me and Carlisle will be responsible for human deaths and the helplessness of not reviving them.

I went to the heart of the forest and sat on a rock.

I gazed at the sceneries around me and decided that it was a good place for my future house. I sketched a picture of my house-to-be and the scenery. I knew I must get bricks or woods to build my house, and there's only one place I know to get logs and wood.

Carlisle's house.

I realised my plan to build a house was impossible and I needed to find an actual house to put my future victims. I hated when my plans fail.

Frustrated, I headed back home and grabbed a house brochure from a passing salesman. I wasn't in the best of moods right now.

Even though I have over a million dollars in my backpack, houses are expensive and they cost from a thousand dollars to ten thousand at the least. I knew I still needed money to pay my bills once I pay for a new house.

I glanced at the houses and a small, haunted-looking house caught my fancy. It was a loner house at the

top of a hill close to the borderline of Sequim. It would be perfect for storing my victims. It wasn't particularly expensive either.

I decided to buy it.

I dropped off my hunting gear and went straight to the auction of the house. I brought all the money I had stolen with me.

To my surprise, no one else was there except the auctioneer.

"Are you here to ask questions about the house?" said the auctioneer wearily. "Here are all the information about the house."

He thrusted a booklet at me.

"No thank you," I said calmly. "I want to buy the house."

"You, what?" said the auctioneer, surprised.

"I want to buy the house. How much? Yes, I'm serious. I want to buy the house. I'm sure you're tired of putting this house in the ads on the newspapers, so here I am! I want to buy the house for whatever price you want for it."

"Seriously? There's no electricity, the water supply's unreliable, the windows' need repairing, the stairs are creaky, are you sure?"

"Yeah. I can fix the stairs and windows. That's no problem."

"How about water supply? Are you really planning to act all medieval and literally go to the well in the backyard to get the water out for a bath and stuff? Even the well can be unreliable! Sometimes you'll get a lot of water and sometimes you won't get water at all! How can you and your family survive with dodgy water and no electricity?"

"There's such thing as candles. Do you give free buckets?"

"Yes, but-"

"Then there's no problems. It's all settled. I'll bring my luggage tomorrow and the rest of my family will come when they arrive in Sequim. They're still overseas right now. I'll let you know when they come back to live with me."

"Alright…If you say so, but-"

"How much?"

"I'll sell it to you for a thousand dollars."

I handed him a wad of a hundred dollar notes.

The auctioneer's eyes widened.

"I emptied my bank account," I assured him. "Can I have the keys to the house? I want to have a look inside of it."

The auctioneer handed me the keys.

"I'll be down the street," he told me. "If you need anything, just come and knock on my door, since there's no phone in your house. Maybe you and your family should come visit me someday? My wife loves to welcome new neighbours."

"Of course," I said, unlocking the front door. "I'll see your around."

I went in and noticed spider webs in corners and tables and furniture coated with layers of dust. No one had bothered to clean it.

There was a few switches for lights and fans, but there was no electricity. I turned on the tap for water, but as the auctioneer mentioned, only drops of water came out. I looked out the window and saw the garden, which was a mess.

Apart from the dustiness, cobwebs, no electricity or water and the messy garden, this house isn't as bad as I thought it would be.

I went to the backyard and saw the well in the middle of the yard.

I peered through it and noticed it was very deep.

I dropped a stone into it and heard a loud _splash_ when it reached the bottom. Being a vampire, I don't need to drink water anyway.

Perfect place to dispose bodies.

I left my new house to my rented one to retrieve my suitcases and tell the owner that I'm leaving and won't come back. On the way, I noticed humans walk past me and I felt a thirst of hunger, a feeling I hadn't

felt since I was born as a vampire. Why was I feeling it again?

"I'm leaving," I said to the owner. "After paying the rent, I won't come back. This house is pleasurable to live in, but I bought a house."

"Very well," said the owner, accepting my cash. "Take all your belongings."

I nodded and packed all my stuff in two suitcases. Being a vampire, I didn't need much accessories and stuff like humans do.

In a couple of minutes, I was ready to leave for my new house.

**Alice Cullen**

I sat in my room, gazing out the window.

"Hey," said Jasper, sitting next to me. "What's on your mind? You haven't been acting like your usual self all day. Was it the talk with Carlisle? You're normally so cheerful and bubbly, but now you're so serious, and that's unlike you."

"Nothing's on my mind," I lied.

"There is. I already told you the reasons and evidence. Come on Alice. We've been siblings for decades, and I know when something's not right."

"I feel, you know, kind of guilty. Over the whole Edward thing. If I wasn't dobbing on him the whole time, he wouldn't have ran away. He did need to improve his grades and all, but he is a great brother. If I could rewind time to apologise, I would."

"Come on Alice! It wasn't your fault!"

"I don't know _why_ I feel so remorseful now and not two years ago, but if I saw through Carlisle's plans first, then all this wouldn't have happened!"

"Alice, what aren't you telling me?"

"Carlisle disliked me raiding through his future just as much as he hates Edward reading his thoughts, so he made me a deal. I'll never be on his Bad List and he'll give me a thousand five hundred dollars a year if I don't see his future. It's been going on for decades, but three years ago, Carlisle made me do something I really regret doing."

"It can't be that bad!"

"It is! Oh, it is!"

"What happened?"

"He made me sign document, saying that I swear allegiance only to Carlisle and I'll use my special ability to see only for him and dob you lot in if something happens. Like what I did with Edward. Basically, I sold myself into slavery."

"Why did you sign it when you know you'll regret it?"

"I didn't have any choice! Carlisle threatened to sell me to the Volturi if I don't sign it! Oh God! I'm not supposed to tell you about it."

"Don't worry. I won't tell anyone about it. Does Esme know?"

"She's the one who persuaded Carlisle into making me sign the document. I was never truly happy after that day. I'm always miserable near Carlisle."

"What happened?"

"A few days ago, I accidently went into Carlisle's future and it was horrible."

"What is it?"

"Carlisle wants to kill Edward. That's definite. I don't know why, but he wants to kill him. And he will before the Doctoral State Meeting in two years time. He'll also ask us to hunt for Edward. He won't hunt for Edward himself."

Jasper was silent.

"What's he thinking of now?" he murmured. "Or what's he planning?"

"Nothing," I sighed. "He's concentrating on his medical work. His future plans so far, are to cure as many people as possible."

"Don't worry. What are Esme and Rosalie planning to do?"

"Rosalie is planning to go and visit her birth parents' graves and Esme is going to dance on her human

husband's grave. Seriously, she is. You remember how he treated her and her child? Now Esme can have her revenge by dancing on her grave."

Jasper laughed softly.

I felt much better after talking to Jasper.

He's the only one who could understand me. Rosalie and I are close sisters, but she's more interested in fashion than my conversation.

Edward was a good brother to talk to, but obviously he isn't here. He was lucky Carlisle didn't force him to sign the document.

Emmett wasn't one you can confide secrets into, unless you want them blurted or leaked out. He can be a good and protective brother in fights and brawls, but in secrets, he's not the best one to talk to. He'll forget it's a secret in a couple of seconds.

"I can always trust you," I said, smiling at Jasper. "I'm glad we had this talk. Now that I told you, I feel so much better."

**Edward Cullen**

It wasn't long before the auctioneer's wife invited me to her luncheon a few days after I settled in my new house.

I realised I didn't know her name.

I had never been to a human luncheon before, so this would be interesting experience. The auctioneer's wife had the good sense to pre-warn me that she had also invited the local church organist and his family over as well as some of her neighbours.

Looks like I'll be learning who the neighbours are.

I went to the luncheon in the best clothes I got and met the auctioneer on the way.

"Hello boy!" said the auctioneer heartily. "I'm glad you accepted my wife's invitation to come to today's luncheon! You know, I never learnt your name!"

"I'm Edward," I said, shaking hands. "Edward Cullen. You?"

"Ah! You must be Dr Cullen's son! I'm George Hardwick! My wife's Elizabeth, but most people call her Bess or Bessie! She'll tell ya that herself when we arrive. I was coming to fetch you because I thought you might get lost on the way!"

"I know Sequim quite well. And no, I'm not Dr Cullen's son."

"Ya sure?"

"George, I know my father. I'm not Dr Cullen's son."

"But both of you look so alike! Pale, same eye colour almost. You also have the same last name! I can bet that you're Cullen's boy!"

"Then you'll lose the bet. Dr Cullen's my uncle. My father's his brother, Vladimir Cullen, and my mother's Elizabeth Masen."

"Ha! You are related to Dr Cullen after all! I didn't know he has a brother."

"_Had_ a brother. My dad's dead, and besides, they weren't close after all. My dad's illegitimate and Dr Cullen's half-brother. Dr Cullen was angry when he found out that his parents were divorcing and his father was going to remarry my grandmother, who's a Russian descendant of the Romanovs. That's why she named my father, Vladimir!"

"Ah! Such lovely family history! How did he die?"

"Dunno. My mother died of Spanish Influenza a few days after he died and no one bothered to actually find out how he died."

I felt bad for lying about not being Carlisle's son, but I didn't want any connection to Carlisle in case someone tells him where I'm living and my cover would be blown. I have no intention of returning to my old life under his watchful eye.

"Not even the great Dr Cullen?" said George, his eyebrows raised.

"He was out of the country. I think he was in Italy at that time. Or was it France? He was on this medical tour in Europe."

"Hello!" said Bess Hardwick cheerfully, opening the gate for us. "This must be our new neighbour! Come

in! You're just in time! The food is almost ready! George, go and take our guest to the backyard and introduce him to some of our other neighbours! After that, you can come in and help me take the food out to the table."

George smiled and led me to the backyard.

"George!" called a man in dark robes, walking towards us. "Hey George! Thanks for the donations you gave me last week! The church's in much better shape than it was a few weeks ago! I really appreciate the donations! Who's the new guy?"

"Edward Cullen," said George, pulling me towards the man. "This is Bishop Harry Weber of the local church. His father is the organist Alexander Weber."

"Hello," I said, shaking hands with the Bishop. "Are you here alone?"

"Nope," said the Bishop, looking around. "My whole family's here. Come, you should meet them! I think you should get to know them!"

He led me towards a canopied part of the backyard.

Under the canopy, there was a whole lot of people that look a lot like Bishop Weber.

"Hey folks," said Bishop Weber cheerfully. "This is our new neighbour Edward Cullen! Edward, this is my family! My father Alexander Weber, my mother Isabella Weber, my brothers Arthur and Edmund, my sisters Margaret, Mary, Elizabeth and Katherine. This is my uncle, Reverend James Weber and his children Angela, Devilstein, Eastherline and Hellena Weber. They live in Forks. The four children go to the local high school in Forks."

I forced myself to smile, but I caught sight of Angela Weber.

My heart froze.

I felt the familiar sense of hunger in my stomach and I had to force myself to cough to stop a growl coming from my throat.

"Are you alright?" asked the Bishop.

"I'm fine," I said, gasping for air. "Just a bit sick, u know. An occasional cough or so. I'm fine! I'll drink some water later."

I was not alright.

The more I looked at Angela Weber, the more I wanted to bite her neck and drink her blood. Hate and hunger swelled up inside of me and I had to curl my fingers into a fist to restrain myself from lunging forward and biting her neck.

Angela reminded me so much of a person (or vampire) I never wanted to remember.

Angela's hair and personality…

Reminded me of that tattler, my lovely sister, Alice.

I couldn't concentrate on drinking blood.

I couldn't focus on anything at all. I even tried 'sleeping' on the bed (which contained a hard mattress and no pillow), but whenever I closed my eyes, the image of Angela would appear in my head and the feeling of hunger would appear again.

After half an hour of building card houses (with no success), I decided the only way to satisfy my hunger was to return to Forks and drink Angela's blood.

I scribbled a quick note to George (in case he comes for an unexpected visit) and placed a wad of a hundred dollar notes onto a table and packed a backpack full of provisions a vampire needs. I also prepared myself with weapons.

Returning to Forks is dangerous.

There's always the risk of Alice gaining access in reading my future and warning Carlisle of my plan in stalking Angela.

I was tempted to unpack, but my desperation of drinking Angela's blood overtook me. I cracked my knuckles and prepared myself for the worst.

I closed the door and left, wearing warm clothes and carrying my backpack.

I considered whether catching a train would be a good idea, but I decided against it.

With the thought of Angela's blood in my head, I gained speed and found myself running to Forks at

seventy kilometres per fifteen minutes.

I stopped at the borderline of Sequim and Forks.

The closest way to civilisation without attracting too much attention was to run through the forest in front of me.

The problem was that it belonged to the werewolves.

When I was still in Carlisle's coven, the werewolves and Carlisle concluded a treaty in which the werewolves have the Southern part of Forks and the largest forest (near Sequim) and Carlisle and the other Cullens have the other forests and the Northern part of Forks near Port Angeles. The treaty was made at least a century ago, and still enforced now.

I considered whether to run through the werewolves' forest or not, and decided that the treaty was no longer enforced to me.

I glanced around and making sure there were no werewolves about, I silently tied my shoelaces tighter and ran through the forests.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter III

**Edward Cullen**

I had managed to run to civilisation in one night before the werewolves found out I was running in their forest as a short cut.

The closest time I was near a werewolf was at one in the morning.

I had ran past a grove and saw a fire. There were a couple of werewolves (in human form) sitting around it and cracking jokes.

I had stopped running and walked silently and slowly past them.

They were laughing so hard that they didn't notice me.

Hopefully Alice can't see my future now that I'm in Forks. I had rent a small house close to the Southern end of Forks near werewolf territory in case Carlisle sends Emmett and Jasper to hunt me down. I made sure I had a dagger in my pocket.

Vampires can't be killed with daggers and guns, but they can be knocked out for half an hour at the most. Especially if the wound is deep.

I rested for an hour and watched the clock tick.

Once it reached eight thirty in the morning, I stood up and repacked my backpack. It's time to stalk my future dinner: Angela Weber.

I changed my clothes, dyed my hair red and wore blue contacts. I'm not taking any risks in allowing any of the Webers or any vampire in discovering my true identity. I'm determined in drinking Angela's blood and I won't leave Forks until I do!

I walked to Forks High School with my enrolment sheets.

Before I settled in my rental house, I had enrolled myself back into Forks High School (in disguise and none of the office ladies recognised me) and persuaded the office ladies to allow me to take the same classes as my 'cousin' Angela Weber. Now I can spy on Angela during schooling hours! I had to be a Junior again, but it was better than nothing.

I arrived at Forks High and went into the administration block.

I handed the enrolment sheets to the office ladies and went off to my first class (advanced maths) without wasting anymore time.

Half the class were already there.

I noticed Angela sat in the front row, right in front of the board.

What a tempting meal she is.

"Yes?" said the teacher, looking at me. "Who are you?"

"Thomas Willoughby," I answered.

I sat in the back row and stared at Angela while the teacher began the lesson. Advanced maths was pretty easy for me.

This would be an easy walk in the park.

**Jasper Cullen**

I stared at Thomas Willoughby when he sat at the back.

Why does he look so familiar?

Before our maths teacher Mr Burns began explaining today's lesson, I quietly moved to the back and sat two seats away from Willoughby.

Willoughby must be very sick to achieve such paleness! But why does he have muscles? He can't get sick by working out over time. Who can have hair that red? Looks like a wig or something. Could Willoughby be…bald?

He must've realised I was watching him, because he glared at me threateningly.

I quickly looked away and copied what Mr Burns wrote on the board. I felt Willoughby's eyes on me. I tried to ignore him the best I can.

I leant back on my chair as casually as I can, and concentrated on my work.

A few minutes later, I glanced at Willoughby and saw him eyeing Angela again.

Willoughby's a new dude at school and he's already eyeing one of the cutest girls at school? What kind

of guy does he think he is?

There's already a mile of guys wanting to hook up with Angela Weber, and there's no way they'll let Willoughby jump the line.

Once class was over, I hoped Willoughby was in my next class (science).

That way I could spy on him some more. I knew I had no chance to date Angela (being a vampire), but I still liked keeping tabs on her and finding which guys are interested in her. Willoughby just might be on the list of guys who have a crush on Angela Weber.

Willoughby was in my next class.

Excellent.

During science, I noticed again that Willoughby sat a few rows behind Angela and was constantly watching her again.

What's he planning to be? A stalker?

The rest of the day passed in a blur and I met Alice at the school gates.

"Hey," greeted Alice. "Something's bugging you. I don't need to see through the future to tell. And you're frowning."

"Have you noticed the new guy?" I said, glancing around.

"Thomas Willoughby? He's in my PE class. What about him? He seems to be always staring at that Weber girl, Angela. His hair is a mess too. How can his mother let him go to school in such a mess? His clothes don't match either."

"Does something about him bug you?"

"Well, yeah! His paleness and his aura sense. For most of the humans, I can't feel their aura sense or see their future very well, but Willoughby's aura is strong."

"Like a vampire's?"

"No. Not as strong as a coven vampire's."

"How about a loner vampire? Maybe his aura's the same as a loner vampire's? That's in between a coven vampire and human, isn't it?"

"Maybe…I'm not sure. I never felt the aura of a loner vampire before. No Jasper, I'm not going to hunt for a loner vampire just to sense his aura."

I laughed lightly.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Willoughby walked past us, not giving us a second glance (or first glance as a matter of fact).

Alice and I both watched him go.

"You know," I said, after a while. "As far as we know, Willoughby could just be a guy who's infatuated by Angela at a first glance and is rather sickly and uses bad perfume. We should leave him alone. He's new here after all."

**Edward Cullen**

Things were not as I expected.

Angela Weber and Jasper are in the same classes, except when Angela has PE with Alice! When can I ever dodge those two?

I continued following Angela and hid behind a bush as she went into a house. I glanced around and realised I was in a suburban area. I remembered I used to walk past this street when I was bored or truanting from class.

I watched Angela leave her house with a brother or sister.

Devilstein Weber, I realised.

Her older brother.

I stealthily followed them to their destination, glancing in every direction (in case a nosy vampire decides to snoop on me).

After a while, I knew they were going to KFC.

Probably for a brotherly-sisterly talk.

I went into KFC and sat two tables away from them. I ordered two drumsticks, small chips and a bottle

of coke while keeping an eye on my potential victim and her brother. Being a vampire, I hated fried food, but I had to endure my disgust for the oily cuisines in order to spy on my dinner-to-be and lure her into my intricate dinner web.

Two hours passed.

I grew tired of playing with my already-cold chips and I threw it in the bin and ordered another one. I wished Angela would get a move on.

Just as my chips arrived, Angela and Devilstein stood up and placed their rubbish into the bin. I grabbed my chips and quietly followed them out. It was dark and almost six in the evening. Tonight, I must somehow catch Angela alone…

I hid behind a tree while Devilstein and Angela walked slowly back to their house.

How slow do they walk?

I got impatient and ran up to them.

"Excuse me!" I called. "I'm sorry to barge in on you, but I need your help! I just moved here and I'm kinda lost! Can one of you please help me?"

Angela and Devilstein looked at each other.

"Hey!" said Angela suddenly. "You're the new guy at school! Thomas Willoughby isn't it?"

"Yeah," I answered. "And you?"

"I'm Angela Weber, and this is my brother, Devilstein. I'm sure one of us can help you find your way home, don't worry."

"Yeah," said Devilstein cautiously. "Not to be rude, but I can't help you. I promised my parents I'll go straight home and help Hellena with the dishes. Maybe you can, Angela? I'm sure your friend won't mind if you're a little late to her sleepover. Our parents can deliver your sleepover gear to your friend's house while you take Thomas home."

"Sure!" said Angela brightly. "I'm certain that my friend won't mind if I'm a tad bit late! Don't look so suspicious and cynical Devilstein! I'll be fine! Tell mum that Vicky's mum will take me home tomorrow and she won't have to pick me up."

"Sure…"

I watched Devilstein leave, a glint of triumphant in my eyes.

Finally.

_Angela will be mine._

"Let's go," said Angela, interrupting my thoughts. "Your parents might get worried if you don't go home safely. Where do you live?"

I gave her my address.

"Oh my God!" she exclaimed. "That's such a coincidence! Your house is straight passed my friend's house! Come! I know a short cut!"

I followed Angela as she 'led' me back to my house.

"Just wait a sec," she told me as we stopped in front of a different house. "I'll tell my friend Vicky that I'm taking you home. She might get impatient with me for being late. You can come and see her if you want to. If you don't want to, just don't wander off."

She knocked on the door and it was opened at once.

My heart missed a beat when I saw the boy who answered it.

The boy has a spitting image of Carlisle.

**Dr Carlisle Cullen**

I summoned Alice into my office.

"Alice," I said calmly. "I'm glad you can come today. I received a call today from the principal of Forks High School. Don't look so nervous Alice. It's not about you, Jasper, Rosalie or Emmett. It's about Edward, who we heard nothing about for around two years."

"What about him?" asked Alice.

"The principal asked if I won't mind withdrawing Edward from the school for a new kid who was just enrolled into Forks High School a couple of days ago. I asked why and he told me that this kid is very intelligent and didn't seem to be the type of kid that'll play truancy twice a week. He even offered me two thousand dollars as a bribe."

"And?"

"I accepted and wanted to know who the new kid is and I requested a photo of him to be sent over to my computer. The principal obliged and sent me a picture. Maybe you already saw him? Here's a picture of him. A certain Thomas Willoughby."

I watched Alice examine the photo I placed in front of her. Her face expression changed a couple of times. Is she hiding anything from me?

"Well?" I inquired. "Is there something I should know?"

"No," said Alice hastily. "I had never seen this boy before."

I leaned forward.

"Are you sure?" I said, looking at her straight in the eyes. "You don't seem to be telling the truth. Did you forget our deal already? How long has it been? A couple of decades? Tell me the truth and I'll let this matter…slip."

"It's not part of our deal," said Alice weakly.

"Oh really? You know that lying to your parents is bad, don't you? Esme and I nurtured and looked after you since you were born a vampire and you repay us by this? I can tell you're lying. What is there about this boy that you need to hide from me? Did you already see his future and discovered it was something bad or something?"

"No, it's not that-"

"Then what are you hiding? If it isn't bad, then there's no need to lie to me. You'll make it easier for yourself if you tell me the truth."

Alice was silent.

It was getting harder to control her than I thought.

"This guy's in my class," Alice said quietly. "And Jasper's. Jasper grew suspicious of him and told me about him. He wanted me to see Willoughby's future, but I couldn't. There was something about his aura that felt different."

"Jasper knows about him?" I said, my eyebrows raised. "Why didn't he bring it forward? Why didn't you say anything about it earlier during the day?"

"I didn't know it would be necessary to tell you! I mean, Willoughby's human! He's not a threat to us vampires! He's absolutely human!"

"Alice. You're lying again. You said that there was something suspicious about his aura. Humans don't have odd auras. Only supernatural creatures like vampires and werewolves have odd auras. Humans are known to be aura-less."

"Humans _do_ have auras! Faint ones at least."

"Get Jasper for me."

I watched Alice leave the room.

There's something going on under my nose which she isn't sharing with me. I'm head of the Cullen coven and I deserve to know everything! If I didn't take Jasper, Alice, Rosalie, Emmett and Edward under my wing, there would've been five wild, untrained, unprotected, lost vampires wandering around Forks, drinking human blood!

It should be obvious to them that they owe their allegiance to me and Esme and should know better than to keep secrets from me!

I felt angrier and betrayed by the minute.

If I had given Edward the same paperwork deal as I've given Alice, he wouldn't have turned rogue and this would never have happened!

"Carlisle," said Jasper calmly, as he entered the room. "Alice said that you wished to see me? What is it that you need me more?"

I showed him the photo of Thomas Willoughby.

Jasper's face expression didn't change.

"Alice said that you've seen this boy before," I told him. "She also said that he's in your class and you're suspicious of him and asked her to see his future. Is there something you'd like to share with me? I suggest you tell me what it is before I do some digging and find out you're lying. You wouldn't want to be caught lying, now would you? Oh, and control the warmth and fuzziness. If you don't, I'll turn on the air condition and the fans."

Jasper's face expressions remained calm and still.

For some reason, that just pissed me off.

Here I was, losing patience and about to explode while Jasper remained ever so calm and composed like he was listening to a class lecture.

This can't go on!

The warmness and fuzziness was still there. I stood up and switched on the air condition and two fans in my room. Vampires can feel weather and climate change, but it doesn't affect us like it affects humans. A strong wind might be just a small breeze to vampires. The fans and air condition won't affect me, Alice and Jasper, but it will affect Jasper's ability.

To my annoyance, Jasper was still so calm!

Can't that vampire ever be provoked?

"Do you know this boy?" I repeated.

"You already know the answer," said Jasper steadily. "You said so yourself. You said that Alice told you that I know this boy. Why do you want me to repeat what you said? For your satisfaction in hearing the same answer being said by a different vampire?"

"Just answer the question!"

"What's the question? You had come to the conclusion that I do know this boy and is hiding something about him and Alice had told you about the boy being in my class! What's the question? Is the boy in my class? Yes!"

"Why did you ask Alice to look into his future?"

"There's something suspicious of him. That is all."

"Like what?"

"And why should you monitor everything I say and do? I might prefer to keep secrets from you than share them for humiliation."

"Humiliation? Who the Hell's being humiliated here? You or me?"

"Me! You're not my master and it's not my job to tell you everything I know! This is not the Middle Ages and this is not court! I won't be a pawn in your ambitions!"

"HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT TO ME? I raised and nurtured you and your siblings since you first became vampires and this is how you repay me? I'm being humiliated more and more by the minute! Edward's grades slips and he turns rogue and runs away, you are keeping secrets from me and being disobedient and Alice had broken her promise to me she made decades ago! The only obedient and loyal vampires that I know are Rosalie, Emmett and Esme!"

"You can't make us your spies! All the things you've done aren't for us! Relationships with the werewolves hadn't improved either! They deteriorated! The only things you've done is everything Esme asked for both of your benefits!"

I had enough.

**Angela Weber**

After telling my friend Victoria (Vicky) Wellington that I'll be a little late, I felt a little edgy of leading Thomas back to his house.

For one thing, the sky was getting even darker than I thought.

Thomas was also more silent than he was before, and that sent shivers down my spine. As I led him to the address he gave me, I noticed the trees and gardens were more wild and residents there were giving us dark, creepy looks.

"Can you take it from here?" I said nervously.

"Yeah, sure," replied Thomas. "Can you just come the whole way with me? I'm sure that my parents would want to thank you for taking me home."

"Um, sure…how much further do you have to go? I don't really want to work the whole way back, and

it's getting a little dark. I'm a bit scared of the dark, you know."

"Of course, of course. It's not very far. Maybe half a kilometre or less? It's very close. Be prepared for a hug and gratitude."

He gave me a smile.

I attempted to smile back, but I felt uncomfortable around Thomas. The longer I was with him, the more uncomfortable I felt. The quicker I can get rid off him, the quicker I can forget about this. Hopefully he won't talk about it in class tomorrow.

We approached an old house.

It was oddly quiet when Thomas unlocked the door.

"Come in," said Thomas, opening the door. "I'll get my parents. Just make yourself at home. It won't take very long at all."

I entered the house and sneezed.

"Bless you," said Thomas, switching on the light. "We didn't have enough time to clean the house yet, so it's still a bit dusty."

It's not a bit dusty, it's very dusty!

Suddenly, the lights switched itself off and I was in the dark.

"Thomas?" I said nervously. "What's going on?"

I felt cold metal against my throat.

In a few seconds, the lights were switched back on.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter IV

**Edward Cullen**

I pressed my knife against Angela's throat, shaking with excitement. Finally I had succeeded! Angela's finally my victim!

She squeaked in fright.

"Behave yourself," I murmured. "I suggest you stay quiet and obey me. Even if you scream, no one here would take it seriously and come and help you. Especially if you scream from this house. Have you heard of this house before?"

Angela shook her head.

"I'm surprised," I said, pulling Angela onto the couch. "You lived in Forks for so long, and you had never heard about this haunted house?"

"No," whispered Angela. "I don't come here."

"Of course, of course. You and your family members are religious and find it superstitious to come and visit old hermits. I don't need to ask. I can see it on your face! You know what I said is the truth! Now make yourself comfortable."

"Thomas, why are you-"

"Let's start from the beginning. I'm not Thomas Willoughby! I'm Edward Cullen! Of course you never noticed me before!"

"I did! I did!"

"Stop lying! You were in my class before and never spoke to me! You never noticed me! You were always being a stuck-up, show off bitch at the front of the class! The only reason I'm back here is for revenge on Carlisle and those who are his allies! It was just your luck that you reminded me of that tattle tale Alice who dobbed me in!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Alice Cullen! Don't you know any of the Cullens? She dobbed me into that son of a bitch Carlisle! For that, I had to suffer for weeks!"

"What did you do?"

"Nothing! He just felt like punishing me!"

"Carlisle's your father! He wouldn't punish you for something that bad! He'll accept your reasons without much trouble!"

"Shut up! You have no idea what you're talking about!"

"I do! My father whips me if I forget my prayers!"

"That's not that bad! Whipping doesn't even hurt! I was chained to A BED for weeks! You know how painful that is? I could never get to sleep and my brother bullied me every single day! Those weeks were the most torturous times I went through!"

"Being chained up couldn't be possibly the worst thing in the world-"

"You got to be joking. You don't even know what I am, do you? Haven't you seen the signs? My paleness? My choice of housing? My lack of sleep? My quietness? Did you ever consider them? Don't just gawk at me! ANSWER ME!"

Angela tried shrinking away from me, but I grabbed her neck.

I must've grabbed her too tightly because she began gasping for air.

"What are you?" she choked.

"You really are a stupid, little girl are you?" I sneered. "I had just given you massive hints and what do you do? Stare and shrink away from me! I don't know how those teachers find you a goody-goody-two-shoes, but you're useless and brainless! Do you know what attracted me to you apart from the fact that you look like Alice?"

"N-n-no!"

"Of course you don't. It's the scent of your blood that attracted me. Your blood smells so good and I'm dying to taste it! Do you know what I am now?"

"A zombie?"

"It's not a joke. Since you refuse to take it seriously, I might as well show you!"

I opened my mouth and showed her my fangs. I waited for Angela to respond the way I hoped she

would (gasp and turn pale), but to my annoyance and anger, Angela didn't respond the way a genius would act when she meets a hungry vampire.

Angela looked at me blankly with no expression.

"Those are fake," she said, sensing my annoyance. "You glued them on. Or you went to the doctor's and he glued them on for you. You're delusional and think you are a vampire. You should go and get yourself checked out or something. See a doctor…"

"You humans are stupid!" I spat. "I'll prove to you that I'm not lying about being a vampire! Why would I lie in the first place?"

I bit Angela's hand with my fangs and felt high when I sucked in her blood.

Angela screamed in pain as my venom was injected into the bite marks when I sucked up her blood. It must be painful.

"You believe me now?" I growled.

"Y-Yes!" sobbed Angela. "Please! I'm bleeding! I feel bad! Get me to a hospital! I'll die! Please help me to a hospital! I won't tell anyone about this! I won't! Just take me to a hospital! I won't tell the police that you're a vampire!"

I lifted up her chin and forced her to look at me in the eye.

"I don't believe you," I whispered. "You lot always say that you won't tell the police, but that always happens! I don't trust you! You'll die slowly and painfully. My venom will keep you alive, but you'll live in agony. The only time in which you'll die is when I drain you of all your blood, which I'll do slowly. I prefer to savour my taste of human blood."

**Angela Weber**

_Three Days Later_

Every time I move or do anything, I feel pain and agony in my bones and muscles and I felt my heart on fire. It was extremely painful.

For the first day, I would scream every time I felt on fire, but soon, my throat was hoarse and I was too tired and painful to scream or shout. I was also too weak and too dizzy to try and escape my prison. I wasn't even chained.

I was scared and confused.

Why would Edward kidnap me, keep me alive and unchained?

I rolled onto my side and looked rapidly around. Would Edward have left the door unlocked? Will I have a chance to escape?

Filled with hope and energy, I slowly struggled to stand up, my muscles paining me in every second. I may suffer now, but I will be rewarded with freedom.

Using all my strength and cringing in pain, I stepped towards the door.

Taking every agonizing step, I slowly walked to the door.

As I reached for the handle, I felt hands closing around my throat.

"Going somewhere, are we?" said Edward calmly. "I see that I haven't injected enough venom into you to keep you tormented. Do you know why I left you unchained and the door unlocked? Not because I was stupid enough to. Do you know why?"

"No," I whispered.

"Because I knew you would try to escape. Everyone in their right mind would try and escape their prison and dob their captors to the police. Now I get the ultimate pleasure in injecting more venom into your body and to watch you scream and writhe in pain and agony. You behave, I won't inject a lot of venom into you. You struggle, you'll be screaming in a couple of seconds."

I bit my lip, swallowing my tears.

"Let's see," said Edward, pushing me to the wall. "How should I start having fun with you? Should I inject my venom first? Nah, you'll be crying too much rather than screaming. I think I might take a look at the bite I gave you a few days ago."

"NO!" I screamed. "PLEASE! DON'T!"

"Don't worry, Attractive Angela. I'm professional in operations."

"Please Edward! Don't hurt me!"

"Calm down Angela. I won't hurt you. Heh, heh, heh. I'll just operate and make you feel better! I heard that operations can be _very_ soothing."

"It'll hurt!"

"No, my dear Angela. It won't hurt at all…just stand still for a couple of seconds and I'll make you as comfortable as you can be. I know how terrified you must be feeling, but don't worry. This operation will be over in a couple of minutes."

I didn't like the sound of that.

To make matters worse, Edward gave me a crooked, macabre, evil grin, which sent shivers running down my spine.

"Please don't hurt me!" I begged again.

Ignoring me, Edward pressed me against the wall with his arm and with his other hand, he reached for the chains next to me.

He chained my wrists and ankles to the wall and stepped back.

"Well," he said, admiring me chained to the wall. "This'll make a lovely photo for my album! Just wait here for a moment. I must get my camera to take a picture of you. I'll video record your operation so we can watch it later."

Edward went into another room and came back with a camera.

Snap!

He had taken a photo of me, all chained up like Jesus on his Cross. Jesus achieved great respect after he died, but what'll happen to me?

No one would even know if I died.

"Perfect," purred Edward, putting down the camera and setting up the video camera. "Don't be impatient with me Angela. I'm almost done. I'll just set up this video camera and get my tools. Would you like some coffee before the operation? Or maybe smoke a cigar? Is there anything you want me to do for you to calm down?"

"Not operate on me?" I said hopefully.

"Ha ha ha! No. I won't miss the opportunity in operating on you. I want to feel your intestines and touch your blood in your body."

I felt sick.

Hopefully Edward takes ages in setting up the video camera or something breaks down. I have no intentions in being star of Edward's illegal operation. Hopefully something happens to postpone Edward's plans of filming me.

Luck was not on my side.

Edward had his video camera set and retractors ready.

**Edward Cullen**

I felt a thrill of excitement going through my body as I edged closer to Angela, holding my set of retractors to begin my operation.

I was pleased with myself for placing the video camera on a tripod where it could film exactly what I'm going to do with Angela.

"Angela," I said, my voice getting husky as I was getting more and more enthusiastic. "Are you ready for the operation I'm going to do on you? Are you afraid I'll hurt you? Are you scared I'll take out your intestines and play with them in front of you?"

Angela began crying.

It made me even more excited than ever.

I pressed the retractors into the infected bite I gave her. Angela screamed in agony as I pulled her skin of her hand apart.

I watched as Angela's blood (now black from my venom) dripped slowly from the bite. I picked up a vial and smiled as some blood dropped into it.

To my annoyance, Angela's eyes were closed the whole time! That girl doesn't even know the definition

of 'enjoyable pain' even if her life depended on it! I'm going to make her suffer and she'll be watching herself be operated on!

I went to a bedroom and dragged a large mirror out.

I placed it directly in front of Angela, but behind the video camera. I surgically stapled Angela's eyes open (which was something I didn't want to do).

Unfortunately, I had no anaesthetic.

As I stapled Angela's eyes open, Angela screamed and screamed in more than genuine agony. I actually had the impulse feeling to stop and unstaple her eyes, but I forced myself to continue the deed for future entertainment on her.

"It was your fault," I told Angela. "You should've kept your eyes open and I wouldn't have to do this to you. I didn't want to, but you made me!"

I picked up the vial of blood and thrusted it in front of her eyes.

"This is your blood," I said gleefully. "It was red like any normal human's, but it got infected with my venom. Now it's black. Black like coal. Now black's an ugly colour for blood, and my goal is to change it to a much pleasant colour like gold or silver, and I'm going to use you as a guinea pig. I ran out of anaesthetic, so you'll just have to endure the pain."

Angela's eyes grew wide of fright and her lips began trembling.

"Please," she pleaded. "I'll do anything for you, just please let me go! I'll be your maid! I'll change my name and disguise myself! Please!"

I pretended to consider.

"Nah," I decided. "Not worth it. I prefer to be the genius-to-be when I discover how to change infected blood colour to a prettier blood colour. Don't worry Angela. If I still haven't found a colour change and you run out of blood, I'll continue experimenting on another person. Now you said that you'll do anything for me. I want to know the name of Vicky's little brother. If you tell me his name, I'll be more merciful to you, and that's a promise."

"Which brother?" she said nervously. "She has five siblings. Richard, Stefan, Theresia, Ulrika and William and then there's her half-siblings."

"What? How much children does her parents have?"

"Her mother married three times. There's Isabelle, Jean, Katherine, Leanore and Marguerite from her first marriage, Ana, Beatriz, Carlos and Diego from her second and Richard, Stefan, Theresia, Ulrika, Vittoria and William from her third."

"What kind of names are they? If your friend's name is Vittoria, then why do you call her Vicky? That doesn't make sense!"

"Anglicanized name."

"Right…the one I want to know about is the one that looks like him."

I pulled out a picture of Carlisle and showed it to her.

"That's William," Angela said quietly. "His actual name is Wilhelm, but like his siblings names, it's also Anglicanized. What about him?"

"Don't you worry about it," I said, turning off the video camera. "Are you hungry? Thirsty? Is there anything I can get you? I'm going out in a few minutes. Hold still. I'm going to unchain you. Don't fight back, understand me?"

Angela nodded.

I slowly unchained her and carried her into the basement. I took her into the room I made in the basement (a small bedroom with a bathroom).

I dropped Angela onto the bed and threw her a bottle of water.

"What do you want to eat?" I asked. "McDonalds? Pizza?"

"Anything would be nice," said Angela weakly. "Anything that's edible. Why're are you being nice to me all of a sudden?"

"You helped me," I said stiffly. "I told you. If you help me and comply to my wishes, then I will be kind and generous to you. The books on the bookshelf are at your disposal, so are the clothes in the wardrobe, the electronic games on the table and the television. It might be a bit squishy in there, but what can you expect from a room with a bathroom in it? Oh, and feel free to have a shower. I know how girls can get moody if they don't have a shower every day or something. Your hand might hurt a bit if it touches hot water, so be careful. Band aids are in the first drawer in the bathroom. I'll come back in an hour. Oh, and I hope those clothes will suit you."

"I'm sure they will."

"I trust you won't escape, but I have to make sure you don't. I'll be locking you in, so don't try to lock pick the door."

I left the room and locked the door.

I made the key and lock myself, so it'll be impossible to lock pick the door anyway. I made sure not to leave the key in the lock (an old habit) and went out the basement. I closed the door behind me and locked the basement door as well.

I picked up my back pack and left.

**Angela Weber**

I heard Edward lock the door as he left me by myself in his homemade prison. I listened quietly as his footsteps echoed away.

I looked around my prison.

Even though Edward was nuts and enjoyed stapling my eyes open, I was surprised at how good his taste for furnishing a room was.

As he said, the room was small and joined with a bathroom (he separated the bedroom and bathroom by a long, dark curtain). There were no chairs in the room, except for a small, wooden stool placed neatly under the desk.

The bed was quite comfortable, but smaller and more narrower than I preferred. The mattress was thinner and harder and there was only one pillow.

The wardrobe was made of oak and the largest thing in the room (excluding the bed). The bookshelf and desk were made from mahogany and the bookshelf was stuffed with books of all genres. Even though I knew I was locked in and might die, my hands were itching to touch and read the books. Some look like they're first editions.

I opened the wardrobe and gasped.

Not only did Edward have good taste in furnishing rooms, but he had an excellent eye for fashionable, expensive, beautiful clothes.

Some dresses are the wedding dresses I had dreamt of, while others are ones I considered wearing for my school formals while some I could only dream and imagine about. The only problem was that all those dresses are of the best materials and none seemed right for me to wear in the current situation. They were all too formal.

Something told me that Edward deliberately chose those outfits for me to wear (whether I wanted to or not) to be part of his crazy fantasies.

I decided it would be better to change into one of those dresses and be in Edward's good book rather than be in his bad book.

Closing my eyes was a mistake that I won't do twice.

I pulled out a sky blue, silky dress (about knee length) and found matching high heel shoes in a box underneath it.

I took underclothes from the small drawer and went to the bathroom.

As Edward had mentioned, it was tiny, but I admired how Edward could place a bathtub, shower, sink and a toilet in the room.

Even though they're all tiny, all the stuff there were good quality and expensive. The sink was shell-shaped and white (gilded with gold-probably genuine gold). The toilet was also shell-shaped and gilded with gold, which seemed weird, because it's a toilet. The shower and bathtub were both white and the edges lined with gold.

I looked at the body shampoo and soaps and noticed they were all very classy and costly. I couldn't wait to dive into the bathtub.

I knew that I won't live forever in this luxurious prison, but I wondered why Edward would spend so

much money furnishing a prison for a person who'll soon die torturously and painfully by his hands. It seemed like a waste of money.

I placed the thoughts out of my mind as I turned on the tap.

I sighed in relief when my arms and feet touched hot water. I cringed in pain when water had contact with my infected hand.

It was painful, but I tried ignoring it.

After my blissful shower, I tried on the blue dress and to my surprise (and delight), it fitted me perfectly from top to bottom.

If Edward wasn't my captor, I would've agreed to be his girlfriend without hesitation. If he wasn't so evil or sadistic, I would've played along with his desires and fantasies to be his perfect girlfriend. If Edward has a heart, he would be a great boyfriend.

The high-heeled shoes were also my correct shoe sizes.

How did he know my clothes _and_ shoes sizes? I haven't been unconscious during my imprisonment at all, and I had only slept for a couple of hours each night in complete fear and uncomfortableness on the hard ground. Hopefully tonight I'll be able to sleep peacefully on the bed. Perhaps I'll be able to say my prayers before I sleep as well.

Imprisonment might not be so bad after all.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter V

**Edward Cullen **

_On The Streets of Forks_

I was glad Angela wasn't particularly intelligent and viewed her life more than her friend's. Now that she had decided to properly cooperate with me and answer my questions, I'm more than willing to treat her with kindness.

For a while.

If Angela continues to behave this way, I'll treat her with benevolence and gentleness (even when I torture her for entertainment) until I grow tired of her and kill her. It would be a bit of a loss, but I can always replace her.

I went to Vicky's house.

"Yes?" she said, eyeing me. "Can I help you with something?"

"May I speak to William?" I asked. "He's kicked the ball over the fence and I want to return it to him in person. With some tips in keeping the ball within boundaries."

Vicky's face broke into a smile.

"You're the guy who lives behind us," she said happily. "I was getting worried whether you'll get annoyed at him. I'll get him here for you! Just wait a couple of minutes. He's in his room, doing homework I think. Well, he's doing something!"

I couldn't believe my luck.

Poor Vicky doesn't know that she'll be delivering her own brother into my hands and she wouldn't know that it'll be the last time she sees him.

A few minutes later, Vicky returned with William.

I had to restrain myself from leaping and scratching out Carlisle's look-alike's eyes. I smiled at William when Vicky pushed him out.

"This is the guy who has your ball," she told him. "Go with him and get it back. Next time, don't kick the ball over the fence again. If you do, I don't think you'll get it back again. I'll be inside. Don't be late for lunch or mum will be mad!"

"Just wait a moment," William said to me. "I need to do my shoelace."

I glanced at the mirror and was relieved when I noticed that the dye was still in my hair and I could hardly recognise my old self.

"Okay," said William, standing up. "Where's my ball?"

"Follow me," I said, leading him to the alley.

"Are you sure that you live here and my ball flew all the way here? It doesn't make sense! The ball flew over the fence to the house behind mine and you live in a different direction! Are you lying to me? I'm going to go home."

"No. It's there."

I pointed to a ball near a stack of crates.

"That is my ball!" exclaimed William. "How did it get over here?"

As William leant over to pick up his ball, I silently lifted up the baseball bat (I had stolen it from a shop and left it there earlier) and whacked him on the head, rendering him unconscious. My plans are getting better and better by the moment.

I dragged William into the potato sack and into the car I had thoughtfully left near the alley. I drove to the closest McDonalds and Pizza Hut.

I quickly ordered some food for Angela.

I knew that someday I'll get rid of Angela for another girl. Hopefully one that can permanently satisfy my thirst for human blood and be my mate for life. Angela's a replica of tattle-tale Alice, but she'll have to go someday. As in someday very soon.

I drove back to my lair and went straight to the basement.

I dropped William into another room I made (stylish for a man's room-bathroom and all) and went straight to Angela's room.

I smiled when I saw that she had taken the initiative in choosing a pretty dress and had done her hair in a beautiful hair style. I would definitely kill her mercifully. I had already decided that tormenting Angela wasn't particularly fun anymore and she must go. I had taken a new, fresh interest in my Carlisle-look-alike victim that I had taken off the streets.

I would offer her a chance of being a vampire though.

"Hello," I said pleasantly, entering her room. "I brought you some McDonalds' and some pizza. I don't know which one you would prefer."

"Thank you," murmured Angela, taking the packages of food.

"No problems. I hope you enjoy the meal. We'll need to talk about something after this. Something that might affect your life forever. Don't think about it now. Just enjoy your meal. I'll come back to collect you in half an hour."

"Yes Edward."

I had never seen or heard her so submissive before.

I closed and locked the door.

I heard shouting from William's room.

Ah, he's awake.

**Angela Weber**

After wolfing down all the slices of pizza and the McDonalds' meals Edward bought me, I began to calm down and think.

What did Edward mean by something that'll change my life forever?

Will I be free?

My heart skipped a beat when the thought past in my head. Will Edward really let me go? After injuring my hand and growling at me, he's planning to let me live? I couldn't believe my luck. Did Edward really fall for my damsel-in-distress trick?

The moment I'm free, I'll tell the police who kidnapped me.

Half an hour later, Edward returned.

"Come," he said gently. "We need to have a talk in a special place. It'll affect your life forever and I think you'll need to think about it."

I nodded.

I could hardly contain my excitement of getting out of here. What is there that I need to think about? I'll say yes to my freedom!

I allowed Edward to lead me out of the basement, up some stairs and into a room above the basement, but a room I had never been in before.

It was a little dusty, but looked like a tea room.

In the middle of the room was a table with a teapot and cups on it. This life changing event is a tea party he's hosting for me?

"Please sit," said Edward, gesturing to a chair.

I sat down.

Hopefully this tea party will be quick and Edward will grant me my freedom. I'll agree to anything he wants so I can access my freedom. Even if it means betraying my friends and members of the community to this psycho.

"Before we discuss the life changing event," began Edward. "I need your help. Do you know anyone that looks like these people?"

Edward showed me a photo of a group of people.

"Um…" I said, examining the photo. "Yeah. The pale, curly-haired guy looks like Mike Newton. The blonde girl looks a lot like Lauren Mallaroy and the woman with the dark coloured hair looks like Chief Swan's daughter. I don't know who can represent the muscly guy. Why? Is there something special about them that I don't know?"

"Doesn't matter," said Edward, giving me a broad smile. "Thank you for giving me some information about these people. Are you ready?"

"For what?"

"Your decision. I really urge you to consider it carefully. There'll be good and bad parts to it. I'll let you

have five minutes private time to consider and think about it."

"Alright. What is it?"

"I have decided to let you go. I'm planning to find another female victim to satisfy my needs. You've been a great and ideal victim, and I want to see you from time to time. I want us to have a relationship between us. A proper one. I can treat you with respect, and everything. I'm wealthy and I can buy you rich things, basically anything you want."

This creep wants a relationship with me?

He's nuts!

He tortures me and infected my hand with his venom and now he wants a relationship with me? That is definitely a no-no!

I noticed Edward was watching me intently.

I forced myself to smile.

"That's a huge step for me," I said, pretending to be shy. "I don't know. You seem like a really cool guy, but I don't know if I'm ready for a relationship. Especially with a vampire! It seems so cool to have a relationship with a vampire, but I don't know…"

"You can live like a Princess," said Edward persuasively. "I can get you servants, maids and a cook! You won't have to work again! Even if our relationship takes a turn, I can still give you a million dollars. I just want a woman in my life. Even if you become unfaithful to me, I'll ignore it! I won't abuse you or injure you or anything!"

"Is there something I need to do?"

"There's only one thing I need you to willingly do for me. The only way you can be fully in my life's if you agree to be a vampire."

I stared at him, shocked.

_This_ is the life-changing event! Edward wants me as a vampire! I would never be fully free! Being his girlfriend won't be too bad, but being a vampire? That's worse than bad! Edward's merciless and sadistic when he was torturing me, but deadly persuasive and passionate when he wants a relationship (quite out of the blues) with me.

I can't believe that this relationship-wanting Edward was the same Edward torturing and drinking my blood a couple of days ago!

My parents and relatives always told me, my siblings and my cousins that greed for money, luxury and other fineries is a sin (my family and I lived basically in a plain house with no decorations or fine objects to be proud of), but sometimes I couldn't help myself.

I would look for hours at beautiful jewellery and attractive tapestries whenever I go shopping with my friends and would wish I have enough money (my allowance is three dollars a week and if I save up in the whole year, I could purchase an expensive bracelet with little money left) to buy whatever I want without being under the pressure of my mother's watchful eye.

If I do become Edward's girlfriend, I can gain plenty of wealth and can buy many things without my mother's knowledge…

But I have to turn into a vampire…

I'll have to drink blood and stay away from sunlight. I can't go home and live a normal life again. I'll have to live with Edward for eternity.

I'll have to kill innocent people to quench my thirst and hunger...will I really have the guts to kill my neighbours and be a reclusive vampire? If Edward falls more passionately in love with me (and I don't to him), will he propose to me?

I could hardly accept that.

The last thing on earth I would do, still wouldn't be marry Edward and be his bride and eternal wife. A vampire bride.

"Well?" said Edward, watching me.

"I'm sorry," I said, a piece of my heart floating away (the part wanting Edward's money). "I can't. I can't be a vampire. I just can't stand the idea of drinking human blood. I'm sure you'll be a great boyfriend, but you're not the man for me."

"I understand. I'm sure you'll be a good girlfriend for me, but it's just the vampire clause that you won't

accept, isn't it? Don't look so worried Angela. I believe you. Before you leave my home, I'll give you a thousand dollars for you to take with you. I know it's a lot of money, but please accept it. I'll just go and fetch the money right now."

I couldn't believe my luck.

I'm going to be free and I'll have a thousand dollars to spend on whatever I want as well! And as a bonus on top, I won't be turned into a vampire!

Edward returned after a couple of minutes with a fat, leather wallet. I guessed that it was full of wads of cash. I couldn't wait to get my hands on them, leave, dob him into the police and spend the cash on things my mother probably wouldn't approve of.

"Here," said Edward, handing the wallet to me. "It's all yours. Before you go, can you finish this cup of tea with me at least?"

"Of course," I said, sipping the cup of tea quickly.

The sooner I get out of here, the better. This tea wasn't the best tea I tasted, but it isn't too bad. What harm can tea do?

I finished the tea and placed it back on the table.

"Thank you for your hospitality," I said carefully, standing up. "But I'd better be going. My parents will probably be wondering where I was. I'll make sure to tell them that you took good care of me while I was away from home."

"Of course," said Edward calmly, opening the door.

I took a step to the door, but suddenly felt dizzy and light-headed. I had the urge to sit down, but was determined to leave.

As I took another painful, tiring step, I couldn't think anymore…I was just too tired…the walls were collapsing around me…

**Edward Cullen**

_Five Hours Later_

Angela was a fool not to agree to be part of my life or as a vampire. I could see greed and trickery in her eyes when she spoke to me.

Alice could see the future, but she wouldn't trick me. She would tell the truth. There's nothing similar between Alice and Angela apart from the fact that they look similar and their initials of their first name. I was a little glad Angela declined my offer of being a vampire.

There's no way I'm letting Angela out of my home alive.

Only a fool would let her go.

I had offered her a great bargain; to be rich and live a life like a Princess, but in return, she has to willingly allow me to turn her into a vampire and she has to live the rest of her life with me. I was planning for us to be leaders of my new coven…

I knew that Angela was brought up in a strict Catholic fashion, and how she committed the sin of being greedy for money.

It'll be best to kill her so she could experience a little taste of Hell before her soul actually travels to Hell and she gets dammed forever.

While Angela remained unconscious, I took out my shovel.

I went into my home made torture room for my next plans.

After ten minutes, I dug out a long pit (about Angela's height and half a metre extra) and opened the trap door next to it.

I went down the trap door and as I climbed down the ladder, I eyed the pit I had dug through the glass panes I had inserted into the ground. I'll be looking forward to watch Angela suffer in 'Hell'. I opened another trap door and placed a group of twigs and sticks at the bottom of the pit. Angela will die painfully, and that'll be entertainment for me.

I climbed back up the ladder and out from the trap door.

Just as I was climbing out, I heard a groan.

Excellent.

It was time to end Angela's life. I had been itching to injure Angela's wound with more venom for a much more excruciating death.

I advanced upon Angela.

"Edward?" she mumbled, confused. "What's going on? What happened to me? What was in the tea you gave me to drink?"

"Don't worry," I murmured. "Everything will be okay. You'll live through this and go to a happier place and live a happier life. I had hoped we would spend more time together, but God didn't want that. God knew what's best for us."

"God does?"

"Yes, God knows what he's doing. He wants you in a better place."

"I'm free?"

"You will be. Soon. Come. Can you stand up? It won't be long before you can leave. I'll lead you to the door if you want."

I helped Angela up and gently led her to the pit.

"Where are we?" said Angela, dazed. "This isn't the door!"

"Of course it is!" I snapped, holding her a centimetre away from the pit. "This is the door of your goddamn fate! This is the entrance to Hell! You committed sin by wanting money! Lots of it! Oh yes, you'll get your freedom, but I don't think it's the freedom you wanted! You wanted to dob me in, do you? I'm sorry to tell you this, but that's not possible!"

I stabbed Angela's wound with a pair of sharp scissors.

Angela screamed.

Finally she had woken up and embraced the truth that she will never be going home, she'll never receive the money I promised her and she'll never see the light of day again. She'll realise soon enough that she'll meet her Maker.

I harshly pushed her into the pit, her screams echoing through the pit the further down she went. I laughed evilly.

I went down the trap door and reached the bottom of the pit.

"Let me out!" screeched Angela, banging the glass panes. "Let me out! You have no right to hold me here! Let me out! Please!"

Ah, Angela had lost her sweetness and gentle act.

I had always thought her demure behaviour was an act of some sort and here's the proof! Finally I can watch her die with justice! Lying and greed are great sins and now she'll enter mortal Hell and soon her soul will go through Hell itself!

I opened the small trap door in the glass pane and pulled out a matchbox.

"NO!" screamed Angela, banging her hands against the glass. "Please don't hurt me! Please! I won't lie to you again! I mean it!"

Fat chance.

I will never believe the words of a sinner.

I lit a match and slipped it onto a nearby stick in the pit. Angela screamed again and pressed her back against the glass.

I laughed and lit another stick on fire.

I closed the small trap door and watched Angela cough as smoke began rising in the air of the pit. This is getting very entertaining! The pit's tall and squishy, and there's no way Angela can avoid being burnt to death, well, her feet at least.

As I thought, Angela soon discovered (rather slowly) that there was no way she could escape being burnt, so she gave up.

Very wise decision if you ask me.

She stood still and allowed the fire to lick her feet.

The small fire crept slowly up Angela's feet and soon were crackling happily on Angela's calves and then slowly they moved onto her knees and sluggishly onto her legs. In a couple of minutes time, half of Angela's body will be all burnt up.

I patiently watched Angela burn to death, and noticed that her wound was open (thanks to the stab I

gave her) and bleeding. It must be agony.

Twenty minutes later, Angela's screaming stopped and her body crumpled against the wall lifelessly. I pressed my face against the glass pane.

Angela had been burnt badly.

Very badly.

From the wound, all her blood had dried up and and her veins were burnt too bad to continue streaming blood throughout her body. It won't be long until Angela fully dies. I looked closer at her and noticed that she stopped moving.

I opened the bigger trap door in the glass pane and threw a bucket of water onto the flames, hoping that Angela's dead.

Once the smoke cleared the air, I stepped into the pit.

I bent over and looked at Angela's face.

She's dead.

Her entire body (excluding her face) had been smouldered by flames and like any ordinary human, she couldn't survive it.

Angela died with an expression of pure horror and fear.

I opened another door and pressed the elevator button (I had built and elevator a few weeks before) and waited for the elevator to come down. As I waited, I put on my gloves and carefully pulled up Angela's body by her grotesquely burnt arms.

Both arms have been burnt so badly that some of her skin had been burnt off and some of her flesh had also been burnt.

I dragged the body into the elevator and pressed the 'up' button.

I felt a little queasy and apprehensive at the thought of my next couple of moves. I have just murdered a girl and is holding the body right now.

What if her parents call the police?

What am I to do with the body?

There was only one solution; get rid of the body.


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter VI

**Edward Cullen**

_An Hour Later_

It was midnight by the time I pulled Angela's body out of the pit and into a sack. I had enjoyed watching her die, but was unsure what to do with the body.

I noticed that only Angela's head wasn't badly burnt.

After ten minutes of deliberating with myself about the body, I had came to a final decision. I will decapitate Angela's head.

I took out the axe from my shed and chopped off Angela's head.

It didn't leave a bloody mess as I thought it would.

I placed the head in a small box and taped it up. I will deliver it to Angela's family around the same time as I get rid of the body. I stuck a label on top of the box and wrote Angela's name on it. After that, I pulled out a piece of paper and a pen.

"_Dear Reverend James Weber,"_ I wrote. _"I suggest you pray for great strength before you look into this box. As you're well aware, your darling daughter Angela isn't such an angel as you hoped for. She isn't as charitable as her sisters Eastherline and Hellena, and always wanted more money to buy unnecessary stuff, and both you and I know, that it's a sin. As you know, sinful people who don't repent before they die, go to Hell. I'm pleased to inform you that your daughter had died with justice and had a little taste of Hell before dying. Enjoy your prezzie!"_

I taped it below the label and chuckled evilly.

Reverend Weber will have a lovely surprise indeed.

There had been some talk of him having a bad heart and will die once he has a deep shock, and I wonder if that's true.

I placed Angela's headless body back into the sack and picked up the box.

I changed into another set of black clothes and made sure my hair is fully red and my contacts clean and blue. I pulled out the map.

I had decided to place the body at the Forks Church and Angela's head at the doorstep of her house. I'm looking forward to seeing Reverend Weber's face expression. I'll get rid of the body first and then I'll put the head at Angela's doorstep.

I left my house and ran silently to Forks Church.

It was still dark and there was no one about.

I opened the gate to the main entrance of the church. I went through the main door and noticed a priest snoring loudly on a nearby pew.

So Angela wasn't the only one who has a religious family, but committed sin. I'm glad that this lazy, useless priest was sleeping and snoring loudly. That way I could dump the body to the place I want it to be and leave without being seen.

I took the body out of the sack and placed it against a chair on the small stage in front of the pews, and picked up the sack.

I glanced at the body and left.

There was a little light by the time I left Forks Church for Angela's house. I know that the Webers attend service early in the morning (around six) and they probably wake up around five or five thirty, since it's quite some travelling to the church, and it takes time to change and I guess that they'll go to church with the whole family.

I made sure no one was around when I snuck up to the Webers' house.

I quickly dropped the box at the doorstep and darted into the trees near the house. I pulled out my binoculars and placed it next to me.

There'll be some time until the Webers wake up, so I pulled out my iPad and began playing on it. I was so engaged with playing Lep's World that I lost track of time. After a while, I realised that it was almost five and cars were turning up at the Webers' driveway.

I stood up and stretched.

I had been lying on my stomach for hours without realising it. I was glad the Webers lived near woods where I can hide from view to watch what'll happen. I've been looking forward to this moment in ages! I wanted to see the light fade from Reverend Weber's eyes once he sees what happens to his sinner daughter. I want him to _know_.

People came out from the cars and went to the house.

I noticed that Bishop Weber was one of them.

It strikes me odd that Bishop Weber would come to Forks just for morning Mass in Forks Church to have it with his uncle's family.

Who would do that?

It didn't really matter to me at the current time, since any moment, Reverend Weber would come out of his house to greet his relatives (probably routinely), find the box, read the note, perhaps pray for a couple of seconds, open it, and die of a heart attack.

As I expected, Reverend Weber greeted his nephew and his family and found the box. He picked it up, shook it and saw the note on top…

**Police Chief Charlie Swan **

I got woken up at five in the morning by an urgent phone call from my deputy at FCWPS (Forks County, Washington Police Station).

I hated being woken up _that_ early in the morning (I do morning and afternoon shift), especially if I was extremely busy the day before. My deputy and other officers knew that I would be in a crabby mood if I get woken up in the morning and they only would ring me if it's an emergency or a very serious matter. Today is also my day off.

"What is it?" I grumbled. "Clearwater! This better be good. If you're bored and planning to tell me another story about your family-"

"Sir, it's not," interrupted Deputy Chief Harry Clearwater. "I've received a call from Bishop Weber stating that his brother Reverend Weber died suddenly of a heart attack three minutes ago at the doorstep of his house-"

"Why did he call the police if it's a heart attack?"

"We all know that Reverend Weber had a weak heart and he had the determination and strength to live on, but the only-"

"Look, Clearwater. You're wasting my sleeping time! What is it?"

"Before Reverend Weber died, he received a box at the doorstep and he died looking at whatever was delivered to him. Bishop Weber looked at it and he told me that _he_ almost had a heart attack! Their daughter had gone missing a couple of days ago-"

"Yeah, I remember that. Angela, wasn't it?"

"Yes sir. In the box delivered to Reverend Weber was Angela's head."

"Bring yourself and the team to the Webers' house. Bring a coffee machine with you if you have too. I'll meet you there."

I turned off my mobile and jumped out of bed.

Murders often don't happen in Forks, especially ones with killers returning the heads of his victims back to their families.

I changed quickly into my work clothes and grabbed my credentials and placed it into my pocket. If I'm quick, I might eat some breakfast.

"Dad, what's going on?"

I turned around and saw my eighteen year old daughter, Isabella standing at the door of my room, yawning and rubbing her eyes.

"Hey Bella," I said, smiling at her. "Did I wake you up?"

"Kind of," answered Bella. "Were you shouting at Deputy Chief Clearwater again?"

"Shouting isn't the type of word I would use. He just woke me up at a bad time. I was planning to spend all day with you today, Bells, but I have a case to work on and it's really important. Do you think you can manage by yourself today?"

"I'm sure I'll be fine. I might go to the cinemas and shopping after that with Angela. I haven't spent a lot of time with her. She had always wanted me to go shopping with her so she could find formal dresses to match my skins tone. Apparently after all my time in Phoenix with mum, I finally improved a little and my skin is a tinge bit darker than the last time I came here! Do you remember what her number is? I lost some of my contacts in Phoenix."

"I'm sorry to tell you this, but Angela's dead. And her father Reverend Weber died of a heart attack after finding her head."

"Her head? How did she die?"

"I don't know. I'm going to check it out right now."

"I'm coming with you."

"Bells sweetie, I know that Angela's your good friend, but I can't let you wander on crime scenes not knowing what you're doing. Even that I'm Chief of Forks Police Station, I don't want to see you crying with her family. Angela's family might take it as an offense for you crying with them. Besides, I don't think you can stand the sight of blood."

"Please! I can stand the sight of blood! Or, I hope I can. Angela's my friend. I know her family. I might be of help! I can comfort them!"

I smiled indulgently.

Last time Bella came with me to a crime scene, it ended quite badly.

Or maybe it was just a bad crime scene.

Anyway, at that time, Bella was only eleven and her mum (my ex-wife Renee) dropped her off at the crime scene as an emergency, since she was really busy or something. I had just gotten out of the police car and went to see the crime scene when Bella raced into my arms. I (foolishly) allowed her to come with me as I entered the house. The body was hanging from the chandelier, disembowelled and blood still dripping from his open chest.

On the table beside him was a line of jars, each containing the organs and guts that were taken out of the dead body in front of us.

Bella screamed in fright and knocked over the jars. They all broke and cracked and the organs and liquid spilt onto the ground (an organ splattered onto her foot). The other officers and detectives backed away from us, disgusted.

It was quite disgusting and repulsive, but there was no need for them to be chickens and wusses. Bella screamed again and ran out the door crying.

The after effect was worse.

Renee left me a call saying that I'll have to take care of Bella for a week, since she's going with her new husband Phil Dwyer, for a tour of America, and she also mentioned that since I haven't spent a lot of time with Bella, it would be a good idea.

For four days, Bella had consecutive nightmares on the crime scene, and was traumatised badly. She rang up Renee and told her what happened.

Renee was furious.

"You have three more days of proving that you can take care of Bella," she threatened. "If I come to collect her and find that she's still traumatised, I'll sue you for child negligence and you'll be penniless and jobless in a matter of minutes!"

I didn't know whether she was being dramatic or serious, but either way, I couldn't risk it. It'll be humiliation to lose my position as Police Chief.

For two days, I tried to bring Bella back to her old self, but I was unsuccessful. I had even prepared myself to be sued of child negligence when my best friend Inspector Billy Black, came along for a visit with his son, Jacob Black.

I was still grateful to Jacob for what he did to Bella.

Jacob was the one who saved me from suing and a loss of job. He somehow brought Bella away from her traumas and nightmares in one go.

I was so happy that Bella's back to her bubby self that I promoted Billy to Deputy Chief without hesitation and gave Jacob a free scholarship to be a Forks Officer in the future. When Renee came to pick up Bella at the end of the week, I was confident that I won't get sued. Renee seemed a little disappointed when she saw Bella in her bubbly self.

I guess she really wanted to sue me for what I'm worth. Some ex-wife she is. I confidently handed Bella

over to Renee. I even had a smile on my face.

"Please!" begged Bella, bringing me back to the present. "I know what you're thinking. Last time I went to a crime scene I was only eleven! Now I'm eighteen! I dissect in biology at school! I can handle the sight of a dead person!"

"Even if it's your friend?" I inquired.

"I think so."

"Well, if you do find the crime scene too much for you to handle, then compose yourself in a dignified manner and leave. Angela's parents and family might find you a nuisance if you do what you did last time you went to a crime scene."

"Okay!"

"Then get dressed. If we're quick, then we can get a spot of breakfast before we go to the crime scene in fifteen minutes."

Bella bounded off to her room.

I had never seen her so enthusiastic about going to a crime scene before. Especially the one where her friend has been found dead on.

Bella and Angela had never been close…

A certain thought struck me.

_Could Bella have killed Angela?_

I dismissed the thought at once and laughed softly to myself.

I had been a cop for too long, and now suspecting people have become a second nature to me and I just suspected my own daughter for murder!

Bella and I arrived at the Webers' house in ten minutes. We had skipped breakfast, but each drank a cup of coffee to keep us awake.

Bishop Weber was waiting for us at the door.

"Hey," I said, approaching him. "Where's the rest of your family? My deputy said that your whole family came here today."

"Yes, we did," said Bishop Weber, shaking my hand. "Except I sent them off to church. They can't miss out Mass because Uncle James had a heart attack and we discovered Angela's head in a box. I know it sounds cruel, but the rest of the family can pray for them in church. I would join them, but I can't leave the house like this."

"Don't you attend Mass too?"

"I already did. I attend it at three in the morning everyday. In case of an emergency. I know you may think I'm a suspect because of this."

"It'll depend. I'll need to send the head to the morgue, but I can't do much to find out how she died without the body."

"But didn't she die of decapitation?"

"Not necessarily. She might've been dismembered to death. After we find the body, then we can actually start working on the case. Your uncle died of a heart attack? I need you to tell me everything you know about him. Is your grandfather alive?"

"No…he died a couple of years ago. Is there a reason you need him for?"

"I need to see someone who looked after James Weber when he was younger so I can have a few people's views on him."

"Well, there's my grandmother. She's still alive. I'm sure she can tell you stuff about my uncle that I didn't even know about. She's at church right now with the rest of my family. While we wait for them, I'm sure I can tell you what I know about Uncle James."

Ring, ring.

Bishop Weber picked up his phone.

"Arthur?" he said, surprised and a little concerned. "What's going on? You know that it's an offense to ring people during Mass. If you want a career in church, you should know about this. They won't want another Bishop or Reverend that rings people during Mass or any other church service. I know that you're in Forks Church right now and you want to be a member of the Sequim Church, but churchmen discuss future church members with neighbouring churches!"

He paused for a moment and a frown appeared on his face.

"Right," he said quietly. "Sorry about earlier. I see what you mean by an emergency. Chief Swan's here with me right now. I'll let him know."

"What?" I said, alert.

"They found a body," Bishop Weber told me. "A body without a head. Arthur thinks it's Angela, but it's been badly burnt. The body's in Forks Church. The security guards are holding the Priest in custody, but they're waiting for further instruction."

"Burnt?"

"Yeah. Why? Is it Angela?"

"That's what I'm interested in. Bishop Weber, this is my daughter Bella and this is Deputy Chief Harry Clearwater. I want you to tell them everything about your uncle that you know. I'll be going to Forks Church to view the body."

"Can you do me a favour?"

"What?"

"If the body's Angela, can you let me know?"

"Of course. Bella, can you come with me for a sec?"

I led Bella to our car.

"Let Clearwater do all the talking," I told her. "He knows what to ask. Your job is to calm him and comfort him. Got it?"

Bella nodded.

I went into the car and drove off to Forks Church.

The Press had already arrived at the church and were crowding around it, shouting and wanting information. I always hated the Press.

They're so nosy.

The security guards came towards me once I got out of my car.

"Chief Swan," spoke one.

"How did the Press find out?" I asked. "I'm sure that you had the foresight to try and keep this matter a secret at the most. And there's a lot of them as well. There seems to be more of the Press here than in other crime scenes."

"We tried to keep it discreet, but the people attending Mass weren't cooperating very well. When they saw the body, they all had their phones out."

"Does Bishop Weber know?"

"No…why?"

"Doesn't matter. He hates people breaking all the rules of the church. Who found the body? Did you discover anything?"

"We have the Priest in custody."

"For what? Does he have motive killing that person?"

"He was the one that was on duty last night from eleven to this morning. Apparently these priests take turns for the night shifts. We also moved the people to the property next to the church. You know, so the crime scene won't get contaminated much. It kind of already it when the people all went in, but that's only the garden area."

"Right. I'll question him a little later. I would like to see the body first. It wouldn't be much of a problem, but judging by the media people…"

"We can go another way?" suggested the other security guard.

I followed them through the back door and into the church.

"Where did you put the Priest?" I said curiously. "You said in custody, but where? He won't be with the others would he?"

"No," said the first security guard, locking the door behind us. "He's in our office. We locked him in. He confessed in sleeping in his shift."

"Is this the body?" I said, glancing at a bundle of bones and thin skin clinging on it. "Or what's remaining

of it? In my entire career as a Police Chief and Police Officer, I had never seen a body like this before. I never got involved in a murder either. Especially an organised murder. I had been only involved in disorganised cases before."

"Yeah, that's the body. None of us touched it."

"Good. I'll need to move it to the morgue until further instruction. I want you two to go back to the people and tell the Webers that they can go home. Once they leave, tell the rest of the people to write down their name, number and house address."

"What happens if they don't write it?"

"Then they can't go home. You'll have the right to hold them for as long as you want until they write down what's needed of them."

"And you?"

"I'll be ringing up my colleagues."

"And the body?"

"It'll be on its way to the morgue. The quicker it goes to the morgue for Medical Examiners to check it out and give me a report, the quicker this case can hopefully be solved. I'm hoping that it'll be just the one body, not a whole stream of bodies."

"What are you thinking? That there's a serial killer on the loose?"

That was exactly what I was thinking of.

"Hopefully not," I answered. "I'm hoping that the jealous boyfriend killed her out of rage, not a serial killer who murdered her randomly."

"Which one do you think is more likely?" said the second security guard, glancing at the window where the Press people were lurking.

"I don't know," I said thoughtfully. "It'll all depend…"

* * *

**I had decided to bring Bella in a little earlier than I orginally planned, but at least she's now in the story! Please review!**


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter VII

**Edward Cullen**

It was hilarious watching old, Reverend Weber having a heart attack. I would be lying if I said it was sad, but to be truthful, it was more than hilarious!

The guy just gasped when he saw the contents of the box, clutched his heart, began choking and breathing heavily and had trouble walking. He dropped the box, froze for a moment and dropped onto the ground, instantly dead.

I had some trouble containing my laughter.

I doubled over and bit my tongue to keep myself silent.

From behind the bushes on the ground, I watched Bishop Weber murmur a quick prayer while looking at Angela's head.

I knew it was time to leave when he pulled out his phone.

One thing I don't want to do in my long life, is being caught by the police and spending all of eternity serving time for murdering Angela (in their eyes). In my view, I justifiably tested Angela for her sins by giving her a little taste of Hell and she unfortunately died during the process of it. It wasn't my fault she was such a weakling!

I silently crept away and returned to my house.

I covered the trap door with a Persian rug and made sure that room was decorated well (in case someone like a Health Inspector comes around snooping).

I made a mental note to myself to renovate the house and make it look more appealing rather than sinister and evil.

Knowing that I might forget, I wrote it on my calendar.

I could be such a fish sometimes.

I chuckled to myself and pulled out my sketches for my renovation plans. I had decided to close up my basement by changing the door into a bookshelf (thus making the basement a secret room) and repainting my house and fixing up the garden.

It would be a lot of work for me to do, but I could always hire maids, painters, gardeners since I'm very rich after the bank robbery and I can always pretend to be a nobleman who moved to Forks after being exiled or something.

I decided to make myself Count Edward of Mortain and my cover story being that I was unmarried and looking for a wife in Forks, and staying close to my Forks cousins, in which one of them would 'succeed' me as the 'Count of Mortain'. Probably that'll win me a couple of gardeners, painters, house keepers and builders that are efficient.

I wrote down my needing for a gardener, house keeper, painter and builder in the newspaper and it wasn't long before I received a phone call.

"Hello?" I said crisply.

"This is George Newton," said the voice at the other end. "You requested for a builder in the newspapers today? I live in Forks and I run a building business. My nephew and I will be glad to assist you in your renovation plans."

"What's your price?"

"One hundred per room each. It's quite a fair deal. We also have one request."

"Which is?"

"Since you're the Count of Mortain, I was hoping that you can help me. My sister Eleanor's unmarried, and we're hoping for her to marry well. Can you help her find a wealthy husband? He doesn't have to be a nobleman, but just rich."

"Very well. Maybe I'll check with my brother."

"Good. When would you like me to come? I'm available at any time this week. If you want, I can bring my team with me."

"How much do I pay them?"

"Oh, about thirty dollars per room? I'll handle the rest of the money."

"Alright. How about tomorrow?"

"You got it. I'll be there at nine with my team. Do you already have renovation plans or do you want me

to bring papers and sketch material to help? That'll be free of charge (sketching renovation plans have always been free of charge), and it'll be easier if you have a map of your house for us. That way we can work quicker."

"I already have the renovation plans."

"Oh! That's good!"

"I'll make sure that you and your team will each get a map of my house. Now how much members of your team are there?"

"Seven."

"Thanks. I'll see you tomorrow."

I hung up.

I decided to inject William with anaesthetic tomorrow to keep him silent while George Newton and his team work near that part of the house. I'll build the bookshelf part myself today to avoid questions asked by them tomorrow.

I might visit William another day.

Right now, I'm too busy to enjoy torturing William (while thinking about my hatred for Carlisle), but there'll be plenty of time for that later.

I wonder if William will meet the same nasty end as Angela did.

Thinking about Carlisle made me angrier than ever.

If he hadn't bugged me about my school reports, and kept me prisoner for ages, I would never have kidnapped Angela, I wouldn't have burnt her to death and the police won't have been summoned and I wouldn't have to hide evidence!

Killing Angela was fun, but a little distasteful.

I felt a pang of regret when I thought about the times when Alice and I played chess, knowing that it'll never end, due to my ability in reading her thoughts and her ability in seeing what'll happen in my future in our games of chess.

I convinced myself that Angela deserved punishment on behalf of Alice who tattletaled on me. She deserved to die.

Half of me enjoyed killing Angela and watching her family suffer, but the other half of me was apprehensive and thought that burning her and stabbing her wound was pretty gory and painful. I felt uncertain of what to do with William.

If I let him go, I'll be arrested in five minutes.

If I keep him, I can take all the revenge on him as I want, while pretending he's Carlisle. William Wellington will be my Carlisle.

I went down to the basement to see him.

"William," I said, eyeing my victim. "How are you? Is the food up to your satisfaction? Is there anything you need or something?"

"Why am I here?" he spat.

"It's a long story," I said, glancing around his room. "I see that you enjoyed playing chess! I'm afraid I can't get you an opponent just yet. Don't worry. I'll get you a chess opponent some day. It won't be long, maybe you can perfect your skill."

"Let me go!"

"Why? I know that you live in relative poverty with your family. You have many siblings and half-siblings and your parents don't have enough for all of you!"

"So what?"

"You always wanted to live in a wealthy household and be treated like a Prince, but thanks to your mother's marriages, you're in a poor house. Your mother could only give you and your siblings two dollars fifty cents per month as pocket money. In a whole year, you earn around thirty dollars and what can you purchase with that? Not a lot."

"What's your point? At least I know my family members won't kidnap me and keep me prisoner in a small room in a basement!"

"Come on William! You and I both know that you share a room with your brothers Richard and Stefan and it's tiny. Around the same size as this room, but very squishy. Your brothers hogged most of your room because they're older, and you never had your mother's affections. I know that you hated your half-siblings above all."

"So what? They still won't kidnap me!"

"Enjoy your stay here. Please. Your predecessor discovered my generosity a little too late. I advise you to enjoy yourself while you can. You step across the line, you won't want to meet her fate. Believe me for that. You really don't want to meet her fate."

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"Language, my dear boy. Language. You won't want to swear in my presence. Behave like a good boy, you get treated well."

William was silent.

I smiled.

"Anything you would like?" I said again.

"No," he said quietly. "I'm fine. This is a good room. Thanks. I'll just take a nap or something. What happened to my predecessor?"

"You don't want to know."

"I do!"

"If you insist…she wouldn't believe what I'm capable of and crossed me a couple of times. At the end, she realised that it would be better in my good books rather than be in my bad books, but at that time, it was already too late."

"And?"

"What's there to tell?"

"How did she die?"

"Now that's another story. An unpleasant story."

"Please tell me! I need to know what happened to the girl who was here before me! Pease! I really need to know what happened."

"If you insist…"

"I do! I do!"

"Very well. She pissed me off badly. I found out that she lied to me. Lying is a sin. I may have kidnapped you, but I'm still religious. I hate it when people lie to me and the girl deserved to be punished. I decided to give her a little taste of Hell."

"What did you do to her?"

"I told you. I gave her a little taste of Hell."

"Yeah, I know. What kind of Hell did you put her into? How did she die? What happened? Can you tell me everything please?"

"Since you asked so nicely, I will. I had stabbed the girl with my venom a couple of days before her death, and stapled up her eyes. After that, I stabbed her wound again with a pair of scissors and burnt her to death, which was fair."

"Your venom?"

"Oh, my bad. I haven't told you what I am. Can you guess?"

"A snake? Or half snake?"

"You think I'm half snake? Is there anything snakey about me? Do I slither around on the ground and hiss at people?"

"Well, no…"

"Then guess again."

"A scorpion? Or half scorpion?"

"I remind you of a scorpion now? May I ask how that I remind you of a scorpion? Or is your imagination very broad to an average human?"

"You said that you have poison or venom. A scorpion has that."

"Just because I have venom doesn't mean that I have to be a scorpion! Scorpions have stings! Do I have any stings that you can see?"

"No…"

"You're wasting my time I might as well tell you what I am!"

"Wait! Let me guess again! I'm sure that this answer's right!"

"I doubt it!"

"You're an evil unicorn!"

I stared at him, shocked, annoyed, irritated, angry, frustrated and furious at the fact that this _stupid_ boy didn't get the hints of me being a vampire!

Seriously!

How hard is it to miss seeing my symptoms of being a vampire? I even have the typical characteristics that a stereo-typical vampire (like Dracula) has, and this ignorant, idiotic boy _still_ couldn't open his eyes and see what I am!

I was deathly pale, I have wicked, Ruby-red eyes and two pure white fangs.

All of them are symptoms of being a vampire!

How the Hell did William think I'm an evil unicorn? Unicorns don't have poison! They can't change other animals or people into evil unicorns!

Sensing my displeasure, William threw himself at my feet.

"Please don't hurt me!" he begged. "I'm really nervous! I didn't mean to call you an evil unicorn! My brain isn't working very well today!"

I wished Carlisle would be on his knees in front of me.

I'd love to see Carlisle pleading for his life at my feet, and myself considering whether I should torture him, kill him or let me live. I would pretend to think very hard about my decision, but I would've already made up my mind to torture him.

"I'm a vampire," I said, staring at him in the eye.

To my delight and pleasure, there was fear in William's eyes as he swallowed the news that he was kidnapped by a vampire.

"Just wait a moment," I said, and left the room.

**William Wellington **

I couldn't believe my ears.

I hadn't been kidnapped by a random hobo guy who wanted me for his ah,_ enjoyment_ (cough, cough), or an evil mastermind that wants me for ransom, or a collector who wants me to be part of his collection, but was abducted by a vampire.

No, he's not a vampire.

He's just saying that to freak me out.

There's no such thing as vampires…no such thing as vampires…

The more I thought about it, the more I doubted my theory and believed that this creep is telling the truth that he's a vampire.

He does have pale skin, red eyes and I think fangs…

But could he be a very pale British man with red contacts and teeth problems? That can explain for his vampire symptoms…

But then again, I never saw him in broad daylight.

The closest I saw him in daytime was this morning, and it was rainy.

Could this man be crazy or delusional?

That's it!

Only a paranoid, delusional man would believe and take up the persona of being a vampire in this much detail and precision!

The guy returned with a kit.

"Hey," I said cautiously. "I changed my mind. I don't think you're a vampire. Your costume and make up are very good, but there's no way you're a vampire."

"Oh?" said the guy, sitting down on the chair and looking at me, his eyebrows raised. "Why don't you think I'm a vampire and think I'm an evil unicorn?"

"No one can be a vampire. Vampires don't exist. They never did."

"And why do you think that I'm an evil unicorn then? If vampires theoretically don't exist, then unicorns

and evil unicorns don't exist either. If I'm not a vampire or an evil unicorn, then what am I? Tell me what I am…please."

"A delusional man who's under the impression that he's a vampire and he'll die if he doesn't drink any blood or eat any humans."

"A delusional man?"

"Yeah, a crazy guy who has no idea what he's doing."

I was a little uncertain of what will happen next. I shouldn't have made the accusation like that. I should've said it a little later.

"A delusional, crazy man," said the guy thoughtfully. "Let me tell you a story."

I bit my lip.

I didn't like the look of this.

"Once upon a time," he began. "There was a doctor who lived by himself and joined in the weekly witch and vampire hunts with his neighbours. He was obsessed with catching vampires and witches. One day, he came upon a real vampire, and he froze on the spot. He didn't know what to do. The stake he was holding, dropped onto the ground. The garlic was no more. The doctor didn't have anything else to defend himself with. His fellow hunters were miles away, and he was all alone with the vampire. The vampire knew all about the local vampire and witch hunts, and was only delighted to meet a defenceless hunter, who was all alone. Do you know what happened?"

I shook my head.

The guy leant forward and looked at me in the eye.

"_The hunter became the hunted,"_ he whispered.

I was silent.

The man threw his head in the air and began laughing, no, cackling. His evil cackling sent continuous shivers down my spine.

"BWAHAHAHA!" he cackled. "That doctor never saw the light of day again! And I meant that literally! !"

I was more scared than ever.

"You know what he's most proud of?" continued the crazy man, still laughing maniacally. "_His hands!_ He is most proud of his hands! Especially his right hand!"

"Why?" I said curiously.

"His right hand's the hand he uses for injecting people in hospital!" said the man, choking with laughter that seemed to be continuing forever. "That doctor became an outcast after he was turned into a vampire, but he regained his position as a doctor! He trained himself not to drink humans, but his favourite profession is injecting people!"

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because you remind me strongly of him! Now that leads to the second part of my story. I was dying of some influenza, and that stupid doctor couldn't resist himself and transformed me into a blood thirsty, creature of the night!"

"Vampires don't exist."

"You stupid boy! Stop interrupting me! As I was saying, I had the option of dying as a human, or living for eternity as a vampire. Not having a say in choosing my life, that doctor (without even consulting me!) changed me into a vampire because he was lonely. He made himself my guardian (which I didn't want) and made it his duty to teach me the ways of being a 'veggie vamp'. I always had the thirst for blood, even when I trained myself to be a 'veggie vamp'. There was nothing that can block me from being a true blood vampire that drinks human blood!"

I had to admit, the theory of being a vampire was more likely now.

As if he was reading my thoughts, the guy smirked.

"Believe me now?" he sneered. "As in truly believe me? Not I-believe-you-because-I-want-to-live believing, but more like the I-truly-believe-you one?"

"I suppose so," I admitted. "But you sound like you know this person! The way you say it is like you admire and hate him at the same time! How can you know this guy? I don't even know your name! Are you telling me that there's more vampires here and you're not the only one? What's a 'veggie vamp'? I never heard of it before! Does it have anything to do with vampires and their diet or something? I thought all vampires drink human blood."

"You're pretty ignorant and stupid then."

"Seriously, who are you?"

"I see that we've settled the judgement that I am a vampire, and now you're planning to get on first name terms, aren't you?"

"Yeah."

"Might as well tell you. You can't escape from here anyway. Even if you do make it out of this basement, that'll be the least of your problems. You'll have to get out of my house, and I can promise you that it'll be harder than you think."

"Okay…"

"Even when you die, hopefully you'll remember my name forever. Whenever my name's mentioned in your afterlife, it'll send shivers down your spine…"

I was getting a little freaked out.

"My name," continued the guy. "Is Edward Cullen. That story I told you, was a true story. That doctor, claims he's my foster father, but in truth, he isn't. I don't believe he is. He's Dr Carlisle Cullen, and he's worshipped as a saint and life saver by my foster siblings and my wicked foster mother, Esme. What I just said, will never leave this room."

He glared at me, daring me to challenge him.

I was too tired, scared, miserable and confused to argue back. What I just heard was too much to take in for now. Hopefully this is a bad dream.

Hopefully when I wake up the next day, all this would go away and I would've convinced myself that this never happened and I would be in bed, listening to my brothers' snoring or watching the sunlight slowly seep into the room.

I closed my eyes, praying this would be over soon.


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter VIII

**Edward Cullen**

William the Weakling had his eyes closed and was whispering quietly. I couldn't hear what it was, but it was probably a quick prayer or two.

I waited impatiently until he opened his eyes.

I had decided that instead of injecting my venom into William's blood through my bite, I'll inject him by my syringe. I'll insert my syringe through all of William's fingers, and it'll be interesting to see his reaction after the injections.

"Have you finished?" I said impatiently. "Praying won't work."

"You'll always have faith in God," William murmured. "Even if you're-"

I had enough.

My first victim is from a religious family and now my second victim is preaching to me about having goddamn faith in God!

Fuck him!

Fuck everyone!

I don't give a damn what William thinks about God!

I angrily stabbed the needle into William's index finger and laughed as he screamed in pain. It was really hilarious watching him suffer! Once I inject the syringe into every single one of his fingers, William would be like an old man with Arthritis!

"Help me!" William screamed.

"Go to Hell!" I laughed, eating blood popcorn. "My! This is a delicious flavour of popcorn! I wonder why I had never ate it before!"

"Please! I need water! I need ice!"

"Ah, my young friend. You don't need ice. Ice'll make it more painful!"

"I NEED WATER!"

"No screaming in my house please. You can live without water. Now, I should tell you what's in this delicious popcorn. I made it myself. You see, in my youth, I loved cooking and experimenting with a variety of different types of food. My favourite ingredient, is blood. Blood can be cooked in such different ways! I made many cuisines with blood. Some aren't relatively successful, but most of my dishes turn out very well and are successful."

"HELP!"

"Haven't I told you to be quiet? Now where was-"

"I'M DYING HERE!"

"I don't give a fuck whether you're dying or living! Now be quiet! As I was saying, most of my dishes are successful. One of them happens to be the blood popcorn! Blood popcorn is perfectly nutritious for a fit, healthy vampire like me-"

"Wait a sec. _You're a vampire?"_

"You stupid boy! I had already told you I'm a vampire! You're not only an idiot, but a fish! How bad is your memory?"

For once, William had nothing to say!

"Oh, don't worry about your hands," I said carelessly. "Nothing bad will happen. The burning's just a natural feeling. It'll go away after a while, like around a couple of hours. You'll still be able to feel your fingers, but you won't be able to move them. Just think about your grandfather with Arthritis! You'll be just like him! It won't hurt much."

William stared at me, petrified.

"Now," I said, standing up. "What would you like to eat? My recipes are great, but not suited for a human. Any requests?"

"I can't eat with this pain!" cried William.

"True. You can't use any utensils. I'll get you something liquidy that has nutrition. Maybe jelly. I'll have a snoop around. Maybe the thing in hospital would be good."

"What hospital thingy?"

"Haven't you had an operation before? No? That's a surprise. There might be some tumour in your

brain that makes you stupider than you really are. The machine that feeds you as if you're a plant! With the needle stuck on your arm! Gosh, you are an idiot. Once I get it in here, it'll make more sense to you. I'm sure it will."

I left the room.

I regretted injecting William's fingers with my venom a bit _too_ early. Now I need to find a way in feeding that boy without much fuss.

The only resources I could think of, was the nutrition liquid in hospital.

I knew the process of using it, but getting it, is a different story.

The only hospital I knew, was Forks Hospital, which was an easy and a hard place to search in. The doctors and nurses knew me when I worked in the hospital, and some of the females that worked there would do anything for me so I would take them out for a dinner or two. The bad thing, was that Carlisle worked there twenty four seven.

The only time he leaves work, is when it's his day to hunt.

And that will be days away.

I pondered on this situation.

To keep William alive, I have no other choice than to steal the equipment needed and risk meeting Carlisle in the hospital.

**Dr Carlisle Cullen**

After my initial rage subsided, I sent Alice and Jasper away. I shouldn't concern myself with tiny problems like theirs.

I have to find that Edward and crush him once and for all.

Not literally.

I summoned Rosalie into my office. Rosalie may not have a special ability, but she can always calm me down after I lose my temper (which seemed to happen a little more often nowadays). Rosalie will always be my favourite daughter.

"You called for me?" said Rosalie calmly.

"Yes," I said, feeling much better already. "I know I can trust you. I would talk about this matter to Esme, but she's out hunting. If we find Edward and bring him back to our coven, what should we do with him? He clearly needs to be punished. If it was up to me, violence would be the key to flatten Edward, but I have a feeling it won't work."

"Romance. He has none in his life."

"As far as I'm concerned, Edward's gay! It's been at least a century, and Edward still hadn't found himself a mate!"

"Who knows? He might find one."

"Rosalie darling, that's what I thought at first, when I first met him. I had hoped he would fall for you, when I changed you. You are very attractive and beautiful. I don't know why he didn't! When Alice came along, he didn't fall for her either."

"I'm sure you didn't call me here just to discuss that."

"Of course not. If he does fall in love, what do you think we should do?"

"Invite the girl into our coven. He might stop slacking off."

"And you're sure that it'll work?"

"If the girl he loves, loves him back, she can control him. If you use violence on him, it won't turn out well. Remember how Edward escaped in the first place?"

"How can I forget that…worst day of my life."

"Try the romance method."

"It won't work if we don't have the right girl for him. Who knows? What if Edward desires for a human girl in her human form? We can't allow a human to live with us! She might betray us and kill us all! We can't trust a human with our secret!"

"Why?"

"If this human betrays us, she would be betraying all the vampires in the world! If we die, the humans

will be convinced that there's vampires in the world, and will start a vampire hunt. That is something that we won't want."

"It'll be disaster."

"More than disaster! We won't even be buried with the other dead vampires in the Vampire Crypt in Italy if this happens!"

Rosalie said nothing.

I thought for a while. She had a point.

"Fine," I said finally. "I'll go with your plan. If we do end up with a human girl in our coven, it'll be your job to make sure she doesn't leave the house without you. I don't want her running away from here and telling everyone that we're vampires."

Rosalie nodded and left.

I paced around my office, not knowing what to do.

Ring, ring.

"Dr Cullen speaking," I said calmly. "Oh, it's you. What is it? Yes. I see. Dr Buckley's pregnant again? I wonder why I'm not surprised! Of course. I'll come to work straight away! When's she due? How much children did she have? Five? Oh yeah, I forgot the last one. Six. I'll be in Forks Hospital in half an hour. I need to gather my papers and change clothes. Yeah, I know that it's my day off, but I don't care. I have nothing better to do. No, I haven't found my Edward yet. Still not losing hope! Actually, judging by the time, I'll come here at one. Okay? Good."

I hung up.

I have work to look forward to.

I packed up my paperwork and placed it back in my brief case. I changed from my ordinary clothes into my doctoral clothes.

"Where are you going?" asked Esme, at the door.

"To work," I answered. "I know it's short notice, but it can't be helped. I have to fill in Dr Buckley's shift today. She's pregnant again."

"You promised we'll go on a hunting date tonight!"

"I know Esme! I'm sorry! Think about this. After I complete my shift, I get triple the amount of money I usually get! I normally get a hundred dollars for a two hour shift, but since I'm filling in for a fourteen hour shift, I'll normally get seven hundred dollars, but since Dr Buckley has the operation shift, I'll get two thousand one hundred dollars!"

"Will you buy me the jewellery set I want?"

"Yes! Once I get the money, I'll buy it for you. With the jewellery box. Are you pleased now, my darling Esme? We'll get more money!"

Esme smiled at me.

"Here," she said, handing me a bottle of animal blood.

"Thanks," I said, placing the bottle into my bag. "I think I'll need that today! Getting a bit hungry! I'll see you tomorrow morning."

I kissed Esme's cheek and went to the garage.

I climbed into my black Mercedes S55 AMG and drove to Forks Hospital.

After I parked the Mercedes in the Hospital garage, I was welcomed into the Hospital by my doctor friends (human of course).

"Nice to see that you can come," said Dr Joan Castella (a cardiac surgeon), a smile on her face. "I'm really sorry for calling you in on such short notice! I know you're a physician, so you won't be doing the actual operations. Just the paperwork."

"Good," I said, relieved.

"Come. You'll be using Dr Buckley's office today. I'll be doing a couple of operations today, and so will Dr Fong! You can have dinner with us today!"

"No thanks. I'll eat by myself."

"You always do!" protested Dr Andrew Fong (a neurologist).

"I'm sorry Andrew, but lunch and dinner times are times when I prefer to spend time alone. When I eat lunch or dinner, I use that time to think."

"Think about what?"

"Private affairs. Thinking of where my Edward is. I'm also considering whether it'll be a good idea to allow my children here for internships."

"You should!"

"Dr Cullen," spoke someone.

I turned around and saw the Head Doctor.

I walked up to him.

"Sir," I said automatically.

"Dr Cullen," said the Doctor, glancing at Drs Castella and Fong. "I see that you have agreed to fill in Dr Buckley's shift time today. You're a physician, not a surgeon. Dr Buckley had recommended you to replace her while she's on maternity leave. Unfortunately, your secretary didn't tell you everything. Yes, you get a salary triple times your usual one, and you'll replace her today. What he didn't tell you, is that it'll only be tripled if you agree to replace her until after her maternity leave."

"You mean, you want me to replace her as surgeon?"

"Until she returns."

"If that's what you want, Sir."

"Good. Dr Buckley's office is at your disposal. Dr Castella will take you to her office and tell you what to do. Until we meet again."

He nodded shortly to me and left.

Dr Castella led me to a section of the hospital I wasn't familiar with.

"This is the operation/surgery section," she told me. "Here's Dr Buckley's office. Make yourself at home and be comfortable."

I placed my bag and brief case onto the desk and looked around.

The files were all placed neatly in a labelled cabinet, and there were diagrams stuck on the wall. There was something homely about this office.

I pulled the curtains away from the window.

I stared out the window, and felt blood rushing towards my brain.

Staring back at me, was Edward.

**Edward Cullen**

_Half An Hour Later_

I couldn't believe what I was seeing!

Carlisle was at the hospital, and today was a day he wasn't supposed to be at work! And why was he in the operation/surgery section?

I hadn't bothered to disguise myself, and now it seemed like a mistake!

"Edward!" called a nurse.

I tore myself away from staring at Carlisle and looked at the nurse.

"The machine you are looking for's in the Children's Ward," she told me. "Would you like me to get it for you, or would you like to get it yourself? You're not allowed to take it home, but I'll take your word for it, so be careful."

"Can you get it?" I inquired.

"Of course. And our deal?"

"I'll give you the money once I place the machine into my car. Ring me once you take the machine from the ward, and arrive in the car park."

"Of course."

I watched the nurse hurry off.

Out of all the nurses and staff of Forks Hospital, I had chosen the poorest and most desperate nurse of the whole bunch.

I had offered her a thousand dollars of cash if she would give me the 'plant' machine and allow me to keep it for a week.

The desperate nurse had agreed. I had a nasty feeling that I might be caught if I kill William and dispose

his body like I did to Angela Weber. I really regretted injecting William now. If I hadn't lost my temper, I wouldn't be in this predicament.

A few minutes later, I received a phone call from the nurse.

I went straight to the car park, and was met there by the excited nurse. I wondered whether she was excited for her little adventure in stealing the 'plant' machine for me, or looking forward in receiving a thousand dollars.

"Does it work?" I said softly.

"Yes," the nurse assured me. "It works out of the hospital as well."

"How do you use it? Stick the plug into a plug hole?"

"Basically. And this needle into the vein of your patient. The liquid in the bag will be all the nutrition and carbohydrates the patient will need to live."

"Good. Here's the cash."

I handed her a wad of cash.

The nurse was delighted.

"Thank you for your help," I said, giving her a dazzling smile.

"That's f-fine!" stammered the nurse. "Glad t-to b-be of h-help!"

I waved goodbye and drove back to my house.

I took the 'plant' machine from my car (once I drove my car onto the driveway), and carried it into my house and into William's room.

William looked at me fearfully.

"This is the machine that'll keep you alive," I told him, pleased with myself. "I don't know exactly what it's called, but to me, it's called 'the plant machine'. Through this needle, the machine will feed you all the nutrition and stuff you need. You might feel hungry, but you won't die of starvation. You'll thank me for this later on."

"Why would I?" said William weakly. "You injected venom in me!"

"That was your fault!"

"How was it my fault? You're a bloody vampire! You'll eat and drink my blood! Who knows, maybe you'll eat me too!"

"That's cannibalism! I'm trying to HELP you!"

"Yeah sure!"

"DO YOU WANT TO STARVE TO DEATH OR NOT?"

William was silent.

I set up the 'plant' machine near his bed, and plugged the plug of the machine into a plug hole. I cleaned the needle and joined it with the machine. I pulled William's arm out and stuck the needle into one of his blood veins. I taped it there.

William cringed in pain.

"You'll be in more pain soon," I growled.

"Please take mercy on me!" William pleaded. "What do you want from me? I'll do anything for you! I mean what I say!"

I snorted and left.

I had long believed that people will keep their promises.

_Two Days Later_

I visited William again, and was pleased to see that William's fingers were now painfully stiff. He had ceased screaming in pain.

"You have stopped screaming," I noted.

"It still hurts," said William softly.

"It's venom, what can you expect? At least the painful stage is over. Now, are you comfortable? Are you still hungry and thirsty?"

"Yeah. I don't think this machine works."

"It is. Trust me. It's working just fine. Now, your fingers are nice and numb. They don't hurt anymore, so

what can I do with you? Inject more venom? Nah, that's not much fun. Shoot you? Too boring. I know! I'll gut you, like how huntsmen guts animals! Be a good, little boy and stay here quietly. I'll come back to you in a couple of minutes."

I left the room and went to my room.

I could barely contain my excitement.

Burning Angela to death was entertaining, but this! This is more fun! I would be actually gutting him to death! A nice, slow, painful death.

I grabbed my knife set and went back to William's room.

His eyes were wide with fear and terror.

"Please!" begged William.

"_Please!_" I mimicked. "Oh, shut up! Lucky for you, I studied the human body and know where the best parts of the body are that are good for stabbing, skinning and gutting! I won't be gutting you sloppily. I'll be gutting you with great care!"

I dragged him from the bed and out of the basement.

I chained William (with the chains I used on Angela) to the wall, and picked up a butcher knife and studied his body.

Without hesitation, I ripped off William's shirt and sliced his chest.


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter IX

**Edward Cullen**

William screamed as the knife horizontally cut through his chest. I made sure the wound was deep enough to let blood flow out, but not deep enough to kill him.

I was just getting started!

There's no way I'll let him die so easily.

"Doesn't it feel good?" I purred. "A little bit of pain at the beginning, and the warm feeling of blood trickling on your skin after that. Such a relaxing feeling. Blood isn't only a great ingredient, but it's a great soothing cream, don't you think?"

William moaned in pain.

I looked at his face, and was angry to see that he closed his eyes.

"You made a mistake," I growled.

William's eyes flew open.

"What did I do?" he said fearfully.

"Exactly what your predecessor did," I said nastily. "I would be enjoying myself more with your eyes wide open, instead of closed."

William shook his head vigorously.

"Fine," I said, getting more and more excited. "Have it your way."

I went to my room and came back with the eye stapler.

Without regretting my actions, I stapled William's eyes like how I stapled Angela's. William reacted the same way as Angela did.

Last time I stapled Angela's eyes, I wasn't certain about it.

I had felt a sense of remorse, but this time, I felt high-alcoholic or sugary high-and happy. I even poked William's eyeball.

He tried to punch me back, but his fingers were numb.

I laughed.

"You psycho!" he screamed.

"Save your breath," I smirked. "You don't want to die with a sore throat, now do you? If I am you, I wouldn't talk at all! The blood will run away from you quicker. If you like your eyes stapled so much, then keep screaming. In fact, keep screaming. I have the urge to staple your lips together too. If you don't want that to happen, then SHUT UP! I haven't stapled anyone's lips up before, so this would be interesting. I'm guessing that there'll be a lot of blood!"

William gulped and was silent.

I was pleased, but a little disappointed.

I had wanted to staple his lips together and collect the blood for my next meal.

"Let's have another line," I sneered. "How about here?"

I sliced another line (this time vertically) through the previous wound, both lines meeting in the centre of William's chest.

William tried to stay silent.

More blood slowly trickled from the wound.

I slit another line diagonally across the wound, watching and laughing as the blood leaked out from another wound entrance/exit.

I did it again (diagonally across the opposite side) and more blood flowed out.

William couldn't contain himself and cried out in agony.

I paused.

An evil grin slowly spread on my face.

"Please don't!" begged William. "I didn't mean too! I couldn't help myself! Please! Have mercy! Or at least let me pray to God first!"

I smiled.

Just smiled.

I pulled out a pair of dirty scissors (the same ones I used on Angela).

William screamed and tried to squirm away from me as I edged closer to him. It was hilarious watching

him squirm like a little worm! Once William dies, I'll be picking up Jasper's look alike from Forks Hospital without wasting time.

"Infection spreads through bacteria," I said nastily.

"Please," said William helplessly.

"Right now, thanks to my venom, your blood is as black as coal, not as red as a rose. Why not add a nice colour of brown to it? It's all very simple. All I have to do, is stick this pair of scissors into the centre of the wounds I gave you."

"I'm begging you! Please don't!"

"I know you're begging me. You've been doing that for a while now."

William whimpered in fear.

I slowly stabbed the scissors into the wound.

I had made sure to leave the scissors midway between his heart and skin. William will die in pain and agony. And he'll die slowly.

"I'll be back," I said, watching him. "It won't be long."

"Take it out…" moaned William.

"Not now. It's not your time to die just yet. Try not to talk or scream too much. It won't bring you any advantages. Only pain."

"Take…"

"I'll be back for you."

I left my house and went to the car.

There's a boy in Forks Hospital that resembled Jasper so strongly, that I felt I had to take him, or my life would be over. William had satisfied me enough in taking out revenge on Carlisle. Now my lust of revenge turned to Jasper, the brother who promised to be with me, to support me, the vampire who deserted me in my hour of need.

I drove to Forks Hospital and met the same nurse who gave me the 'plant' machine.

"Want more money, my friend?" I called.

The nurse hurried to my car.

"What do you need, Mr Cullen?" she said breathlessly.

Probably she viewed me as her saviour.

I would actually prefer to be viewed as a saviour rather than the fugitive son of the well-known and successful Dr Carlisle Cullen.

"A list of every patient, overnight and during the day," I told her. "With photos of each patient. I'll give you a million dollars and a thousand for your silence. You see, I don't want my father to know. He doesn't approve of my doctoral skills."

"Of course!" exclaimed the nurse and hurried off.

I sat lazily in my car and smiled ruefully.

It's always good to have someone to rely on. Someone to do your dirty deeds without questioning the legality of it.

I might be giving away large sums of money, but it'll be worth it.

If I run out, I can always raid another bank.

Being a single, lone vampire has plenty of good aspects. I had never owned a lot of cash when I was living with Carlisle. He had kept us broke and almost penniless, forcing us to rely on him and beg him for cash when we need it.

It was humiliating beyond belief.

Actually, it was only me he kept broke and penniless.

Unsurprisingly, Rosalie was given the most money out of the five of us.

It was hard to be angry at Jasper. Even if he betrayed me a couple of years ago, he had a rebellious attitude like mine, but kept it more under control, and Alice helped him control it. If only I had a sister who would love me more than anyone else in the family, maybe this wouldn't have happened. If Carlisle hadn't kept me penniless, this wouldn't have happened.

Thinking of a loyal and loving sister, I wondered if I'll ever have a girlfriend or a wife.

The females I had seen, weren't attractive, or there was something about them that disgusts me. I have

only one type of woman in my dreams and fantasies, and she didn't match any of the girls I had met or seen in my life (even if it's over a century). If I see the woman of my dreams during my murder spree, I would stop killing humans that represent members of my former life, change her to a vampire, and begin my own coven.

The Edwardian Coven.

Named after me.

The woman of my dreams has large chocolate brown eyes (widely spaced), long, straight mahogany brown hair (a little shorter than waist length would be nice), a heart-shaped face with a wide forehead, a thin nose and prominent cheekbones.

Her lips must be fuller than her thin, slim jaw line and her eyebrows darker than her hair.

The girl of my dreams has pale, white complexion (like a vampire's complexion) and something uniquely alluring about her.

I sighed out loud.

There'll never be a girl of my dreams.

If there is, she'll never love me; she'll run away from me in fright.

The nurse returned with the list I wanted.

"Thank you," I said, giving her a winning smile. "You and I should get together someday. Who knows? I think we'll hit off to a great start. Here's the money as I promised. I'll give you the rest a little later. Can you come back in let's say, fifteen minutes? I'd like some alone time for a while. To study this list privately, for potential patients."

"Of course!" said the nurse, squealing with joy.

She left happily.

If I was still in high school, I would've scored at least an A Plus in drama. Pretending to love a degraded nurse isn't easy.

**Bella Swan**

Being the daughter of a Police Chief, I should be able to stand the sight of blood and gore, but somehow, they still make me queasy.

I felt like I was about to cry, while comforting the Webers.

Comforting is never easy.

Charlie was so busy with this new case, that he had no time for me. I decided to visit my friend Mike Newton, who I had met a few years ago. The last time I saw him, he was a star on every sports team I knew of, and I haven't seen him in a while.

I caught the bus to his house and saw his mother sobbing.

"Mrs Newton!" I called. "Are you alright? What happened?"

"My Mike!" Mrs Newton sobbed. "My poor, little boy! He was whacked on the head by a bat! He's in hospital! He's unconscious!"

I immediately grew concerned.

Mike and I have been good friends (with Angela and a few others), and I had already lost Angela. Pray to God that Mike will recover.

"I'll go and visit him," I told Mrs Newton.

I hailed a cab and rushed to Forks Hospital.

"Miss Swan!" said the secretary, surprised. "I didn't expect you here today! Is your father here? Is there an inspection of some sort?"

"No," I assured her. "I'm here on a visit. I want to see Mike Newton?"

"Ah yes. Poor Mike Newton. Unfortunately, he won't be able to talk today."

"I heard that he's unconscious."

"Still is. His poor mother is grieving. Like she would never see him again. At least one of our best doctors is tending to him. Mike might have a chance to survive. I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you see Mike. Have you heard of Dr Carlisle Cullen?"

"Unfortunately, no. I haven't been in Forks in a while. I've been living with my mother in Phoenix, and I

just moved back here a couple of weeks ago. I'll take your word that this Dr Carlisle Cullen is one of the best doctors Forks can offer, and Mike is in his capable hands. What room is he in? I'd like to see him, even if he's unconscious."

"Of course, Miss Swan. Please wait a moment."

She picked up the phone and dialled a couple of numbers. She motioned for me to sit down on an available chair.

I sat down and waited patiently.

I never realised until now, that many people knew who I am.

While I waited for the room number, I stared out the window, and saw a stunning blonde haired girl next to a silver Ferrari, murmuring quietly to another guy (presumably her boyfriend). She seemed to be tall, with the perfect physique of a model. She must be from a rich and powerful family, which is an attraction for most men.

I felt a pang of jealousy.

I wished I was tall, more beautiful, and less clumsy. I wished my straight, brown hair would turn into wavy, goldish-blonde hair.

Why do all the girls with golden or blonde hair attract the hottest guys around?

I had hoped to attract the eye of at least one guy when I arrived at Forks (the Phoenix guys are too buff and tanned for my liking), but no guy had looked at me twice. Some didn't even look at me once. Will I be a spinster when I grow up?

"Miss Swan?" said the secretary, interrupting my thoughts. "Dr Cullen said that you're welcome to go and visit Mike Newton. He's in the Teen Ward."

I thanked her and went to the lift.

I arrived at the Teen Ward and went in.

Inside, there was a tall, slim man with muscular build.

He had tousled bronze hair, and golden eyes. I had never seen a man as god-like or handsome as this Dr Cullen in my life. I wonder why I haven't heard of him before! I was surprised that the secretary had neglected to mention that Dr Cullen isn't as old as other doctors! I wondered if Dr Cullen would agree to be my future doctor.

"Dr Cullen, I'm Isabella Swan," I said shyly. "I'm here to see Mike."

"Of course," said Dr Cullen smoothly. "Hello Miss Swan. I'm not Dr Cullen. That's my father. I'm Edward, and I've graduated with medical degrees. My father's busy with a more difficult operation right now, so I'm in charge of Mr Newton at the moment. His wound is pretty bad, and is living on life support. We're trying to persuade his mother to agree to allow us to remove his life support. We tried everything, and there's no chance for him to survive. It's quite pessimistic news, but that's all I can tell you, I'm afraid. I'm sure he'll love to see his girlfriend though."

"I'm not his girlfriend."

"Oh? That's quite surprising. An attractive girl like you, with no boyfriend?"

"Dr Cullen," said a nurse, standing at the door. "There's a call for you from Mrs Newton. It's quite urgent. Oh, you're not Dr Cullen!"

"It's alright," said Edward calmly. "I'm Edward Cullen. I've been authorised to take care of Mike Newton until my father returns."

He nodded to me and went out of the room.

I sat on the chair and stared at Mike.

Guiltily, I couldn't help but think of Edward Cullen, while looking at Mike.

Edward returned.

"What happened?" I couldn't help asking.

"Mrs Newton had agreed in having her son's life support taken away," said Edward, glancing at Mike sympathetically. "That's unfortunate and fortunate."

Mike's eyes fluttered open.

"Mike!" I said, shocked. "I thought you'll die!"

Mike grasped my hand. He couldn't speak, but his eyes were looking straight at me.

"_I'm leaving Earth,"_ his eyes were telling me. _"My time is up. My life was a good life. I had many_

_successes in those sports teams, and I had many friends, including you. I wished we could spend more time together. You, me, Angela, Jessica, Eric. Tell them I said goodbye, would you? First Angela, now me. I hope no one else will die."_

"I will," I whispered. "I promise I will."

Mike smiled faintly.

"He'll be dead in five seconds once the life support is gone," said Edward softly. "I hope you said your final farewell to him."

He gently pulled the plug out.

Mike Newton breathed his last, and slipped into eternal sleep.

"I'm sorry, Isabella," said Edward awkwardly. "I'm very sorry for your friend. The hit to his head was very hard. I don't want to say this, but from the moment he was taken in here, he had no chance of survival at all."

"It's alright," I said, a tear slipping down my cheek. "Please, call me Bella."

"Bella."

"Thank you. I prefer being called Bella rather than my full first name. I'd better go and tell my other friends what happened."

"Good bye Bella."

"Good bye Edward. I hope we see each other again."

**Edward Cullen**

I couldn't believe what I was seeing!

The girl of my dreams came true! She's alive! She wasn't a segment of my dreams and fantasies! She's a real, human girl!

All the risks I went through was worth it!

I had drugged Carlisle's cup of coffee and locked him in his car (taking the key with me) and drove him to the street of his house, taken over his minor job of looking after Mike Newton, injected Mike with a drug that'll make him look dead, but in reality, he's unconscious, and doing all this, I saw the most beautiful girl I had ever seen!

Isabella Swan's the girl of my dreams.

Isabella Swan's the right girl to be my future mate.

Isabella Swan's the only one who'll stop me from killing anymore people.

Isabella Swan's my girl for life.

She matched everything I want in a girl. There was even something alluring and striking about her that I thought a girl would never have! Somehow, Isabella blocked me from reading her thoughts. That was powerfully attractive to me.

Bella…she wanted me to call her Bella…

Does that mean she feels the same way about me? Does Bella like me as much as I like her? Will she agree to be a vampire like me?

I snapped myself out my thoughts.

I have a body to get rid off at home, and another victim ready to die right next to me. I was glad I had the common sense to turn off the security cameras before I set my plan into action. I placed the sleeping Mike onto a gurney and threw white blankets over him.

I wheeled him to my car and opened the boot of my car.

I carefully placed him in the boot and closed it.

Judging by the time, I won't be able to return the gurney and get out of here before the drug dies out from Mike's system.

I went into my car and rang for the desperate nurse again.

"Hello my sweetness," I said, smiling when she appeared. "Can you do me another favour? I'll make it up to you later. I promise I will."

"What?" she said at once.

"Can you put this gurney back where it was in the hospital? I'm kinda running out of time. You know, a

patient might die at any moment. If you can, we'll be discussing dinner places and times tonight. It'll all be my treat. You won't have to pay a thing."

I winked.

"Of course!" said the nurse, beaming.

"What's your name, by the way?" I asked.

"Jenny."

"Well, Jenny! I suppose it's safe to say that we'll be getting closer together over the next few days? As in, very close? You have my number."

Jenny (what a horrid name compared to Isabella!) grabbed the gurney and wheeled it out. Her thoughts were all happy.

When she disappeared, I shuddered.

In the whole conversation, I was picturing Jenny as my Bella.

I drove off, back to my lair, and couldn't stop thinking of Bella. If I wasn't a vampire, I would've asked her out already. Since I am, that's a totally different story. Thinking about that, I grew angrier at Carlisle for changing me into a vampire.

William will be the one I'll take my anger on.

* * *

**A huge thanks to Team Edward Rules All for helping me with the descriptions of Edward and Bella! Please review! The more you review, the more I know you like the story! :)**


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter X

**Edward Cullen**

I dumped Mike into William's room (now it'll be Mike's, since William won't be needing it anymore) and went back to William.

William was groaning in pain, and blood was still slowly dripping from the wound.

I eyed his blood.

It'll be such a waste to keep the blood dripping onto the ground.

His blood will be such a good ingredient for my next couple of meals…much better than the substitute animal blood I had been using. Animal blood has a nice tangy taste on my meals, but I always have to add two spoonfuls of sugar onto it. Human blood is much sweeter, and excess sugar isn't needed. Freshly squeezed human blood is the best.

I knew that I could've gone to the vampire black market to buy bottles of human blood, but they could be contaminated, and I _am_ a wanted vampire!

I placed a bucket in front of William's legs and watched in satisfaction as his blood dripped into the bucket instead of the floor.

Slow process, but it'll be worth it.

I took another pair of sharp scissors from my surgery kit.

I stabbed William again, in a spot under the first wound.

More blood streamed into the bucket.

I licked my lips. I could literally smell the delectable scent of human blood in the air! I had to stop myself from drinking the blood from the bucket!

"Don't worry," I smirked. "Your blood will be treasured greatly."

William moaned quietly.

I sat back and watched him suffer, while eating blood pudding. Images of Bella fluttered continuously throughout my mind. What's wrong with me? I had just seen the girl of my dreams, and I don't feel the same as I was before!

I imagined it was Bella chained to the wall instead of William.

That would be a wonderful sight!

Beautiful Bella, trying to escape, pleading for her life. She would be a much more entertaining victim than Angela ever was.

I shook myself.

"No," I told myself sternly. "Bella won't suffer. Bella will be treated with the utmost care. Bella is your soul mate. Bella isn't your victim. Bella will love you just as much as you love her back. Bella's blood won't be used for your cuisines. Bella will be treated as a Princess, and you'll serve her forever. Bella will be the key to stop your murder spree."

I looked into the bucket and grew impatient.

This process is too slow!

I decided that waiting for blood is a waste of time, and went to get bandages.

I pulled out the two pairs of scissors and threw them onto the table. I quickly injected anaesthetic into William and unchained him.

I dragged him onto my operation table.

Glancing around, I re-chained him to the table and prepared my tools.

This'll be the first time I'll skin a human alive.

I waited patiently as the anaesthetic wore off and William's eyes slowly opened. How slow can this weakling get?

"Where am I now?" he murmured.

I'm glad he wasn't praying to God this time!

"Don't worry," I said, licking my lips. "Your life's nearly over. You'll have a nice afterlife. Just relax, and try to enjoy yourself. I promise that I'll be, ahem, gentle. From what I heard, it doesn't hurt much. You'll enjoy it, I promise you."

"What will you be doing?" said William nervously.

"It'll be better as a surprise, don't you reckon? Now keep your eyes open or I'll re-staple your eyes, and

a second time isn't as pleasant as the first. Should I trust you? Nah, I'll re-staple your eyes. Just in case you do close them."

"Please don't!"

If he doesn't pray, he whines! He'll die either way.

I quickly re-stapled his eyes, and pulled out the old staples from his eyes. As I expected, William screamed as if his life was over.

His screaming reminded me of mine when I was changing into a vampire…

I shook myself away from the thoughts of my past.

Turning into a vampire was more painful than this. This is nothing compared to a painful and agonising transformation into a monster. The thirst and longing for human blood at the beginning of vampire life, was _uncontrollable…_

I whacked my head against the wall.

What has gone into me?

Why am I thinking those thoughts? I had never thought of them before, when I was murdering Angela, or when I was robbing the bank!

"Whoa, man," said William, staring at me. "You alright?"

I stared at my hands.

The Devil and Angel were battling inside my head.

Burning someone to death isn't much of a problem, but skinning someone is a different story. Skinning is more hands-on than burning. Would I really have the guts to skin my victim? I became apprehensive at my earlier, irrational decision. If I back off now, then William would call me a coward. I wish I thought more before I acted.

"_You'll be viewed as a chicken,"_ the Devil side of me purred.

"_Better to save a life than kill a life!"_ argued my Angel side.

"_Save a life? You must be crazy! You already killed a person without hesitation! Why do you hesitate now? Kill him now you have the chance!"_

"_Don't force yourself to kill him! Trust your instincts!"_

"_You're a chicken for trusting your soft spot!"_

"NO!" I said out loud.

"No?" said William incredulously. "You'll let me go? You won't kill me? You seriously won't stab or kill me after all that?"

I stared at him, my anger boiling up.

I grabbed a garden hose and pointed it at him.

"You'll spray me with water?" said William, snorting with laughter.

"Laugh while you can," I sneered. "You won't ever laugh again!"

Instead of water connected in the hose, I had replaced the contents with hot wax. Wax isn't something you should play with, but I knew exactly what I'm doing with it, and it'll be nice and painful to William. My Angel side was screaming in my head to stop.

I turned on the hose and sprayed William with wax.

Wax stuck all over him, and I made sure wax stuck to every piece of his body.

I turned the hose onto full blast and laughed as William tried to pull off the wax in vain. I would be the one pulling the wax off him.

"Just calm down," I said with a sneer. "It'll all go away soon."

William's eyes widened.

He attempted to speak, but the wax had sealed his mouth shut.

I sprayed the last of the hot wax all over him and turned the wax off. Only humans get deeply effected with wax. Vampires (like _moi_) have no effect to wax, and even if I get wax on me, nothing will happen to me. The worst would be getting dirty and having a shower.

I sat back and read a newspaper.

Five minutes later, I peered at William and saw him as stiff as a mummy. He would die slowly this way, but not as fun as I wanted.

I walked up to William and made sure I was wearing latex gloves (to stop getting my finger prints on the

body, once I dispose of it). I smiled to myself.

Without listening to my Angel and Devil sides, I slowly ripped the wax off William's face, and along with the wax, was William's skin.

I cackled in delight and poked his flesh.

He groaned.

"Hurts, doesn't it?" I said nastily. "You can literally feel your skin being pulled away, and your face suddenly feels exposed and without protection. It'll only hurt more once I pull your skin away from the rest of your body, so be prepared, my friend!"

I laughed and ripped off more of his skin.

It was more and more enjoyable by the minute.

**Dr Carlisle Cullen**

When I woke up, I found myself tied up, gagged and locked in my own car! Fuck! Who the Hell had the guts to do that?

I immediately knew it must've been Edward.

Being tied up and gagged is uncomfortable for an adult (or well-known vampire) like me, and a little embarrassing, but _being locked up in my own car?_ That's humiliating beyond belief! If a werewolf finds me like this, it'll only get worse…

After a while, it had gotten darker and darker.

I knew that it'll be night time soon.

I didn't know when I drifted off to sleep, but when I opened my eyes, I saw a policeman standing outside my car and looking at me.

I heard the lock click, and I tumbled out.

The policeman helped me up and untied me.

I looked at him and realised it was Police Chief Swan.

"Dr Cullen?" said Police Chief Swan, writing down my car plate number. "Are you alright? How did you get yourself in this situation? Do you remember anything about what happened to you? Your wife called me when you didn't return home from work."

"I'm fine," I lied. "What happened?"

"Have you seen your attacker by any chance? Maybe even a glimpse?"

"No. I remembered falling asleep after drinking my usual cup of coffee, and waking up in here. I think that's all I remember."

"May I have your cup for evidence, sir? There's a good chance that you've been drugged and sent here for someone's convenience. I also need a list of people associated with you. If you're feeling better, will you answer a couple of questions?"

"Um, sure. Can I have a glass of water first?"

"Of course. Unfortunately, we only have bottles of water while we're on the field. I'm sure you don't mind a cup instead of a glass!"

I drank some water thirstily.

Police Chief Swan motioned for me to sit on a park bench.

For a minute, we watched CSU dust my car for prints and evidence.

"Dr Cullen," began Police Chief Swan. "Is there anyone that has a grudge against you, or need something at the hospital that you're in charge of? There's always a reason for him or her to drug you like this. Do you know anyone who hates you?"

My thoughts were all of Edward.

I had no idea why I thought of my rebellious Edward.

Shouldn't I be telling the Police Chief about having strong feelings that Edward did this to me? I spent all my time, efforts and money looking after that boy, and he treats me like this? Why do I still have emotional and sympathetic feelings for him? Probably that's the fatherly side of me. Would I really give Edward up to the authorities?

"I'm not sure," I said slowly. "There's a couple of doctors that are jealous of my fame and position. I

think that's it. None of my family members have a grudge against me. We all get along quite well. Apart from the usual couple of arguments about my work shifts, there's nothing to complain about. My children get a fair share of money, and I have no other relatives."

"And your wife?" asked Police Chief Swan. "Any major disagreements?"

"Of course not! We get along very well!"

"And what job does she do? Who do you have the work shift arguments with?"

"She's a housewife. She takes care of our house, and looks after the children. My work shift arguments are normally with her. We always make up after that though. She just wants me to spend more time with her at home."

"And your children?"

"Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper, Alice…"

My voice trailed off.

Should I have mentioned Edward? If I did, would it be good or bad?

"Yes?" prompted Police Chief Swan, his pen poised over his notepad.

"That's all," I lied. "I was thinking of the ones that died. We had seven children in total, but unfortunately three died."

"My condolences. Any complaints from them?"

"No. When can I go home? Esme must be worried about me!"

"In a couple of minutes, sir. CSU is almost done checking your car. I'm afraid that you have to get a new car. The keys were taken. I'm guessing that you're intending to go back to work tomorrow, so I suggest either you rent a car, or catch the bus."

"That'll be no need. I'll borrow one of my children's cars."

"Very well. Can I have your contact numbers?"

"Of course."

I handed Police Chief Swan my business card.

"You don't live far from here," commented Police Chief Swan. "I'm surprised that your abductor would take you to a place so close to home. He must know you pretty well. By the way, I might not be able to solve your case right at the moment, since I'm a little preoccupied with another more important case, but I _will_ solve this case!"

I smiled thinly.

This case would've been solved in a couple of seconds if I told Police Chief Swan that Edward was the one responsible for all this.

"I'll contact you soon," said Police Chief Swan, shaking my hand. "I hope you get better. If you remember anything, just give me a call, or ring my deputy at the station. I think you should take the day off tomorrow, to rest and all."

"I will," I murmured.

I said goodbye to the Police Chief and walked home, thinking all the way.

When I opened the door, I was greeted by an enormous bear hug!

"Esme!" I spluttered.

"Honey Bunches!" squealed Esme. "You're alive! I thought the Volturi had caught you! What happened to you? Your wrists have deep cuts on them!"

Even for a vampire, my cuts were visible.

"I'm fine," I tried to tell Esme, but she would have none of it.

"You're not going to work for a week!" she decided. "We'll be hunting, shopping and sleeping in for the whole week! You've already worked for too long without a break! No, no! I can see what you're going to say, so zip it and let's go! I must apply cream onto your cuts before they become so obvious to humans, werewolves and vampires."

I flushed at the thought of those werewolves laughing at me.

"Where's the others?" I asked.

"Rosalie and Emmett are hunting," answered Esme. "Jasper's visiting his vampire pals and Alice is playing poker in the local casino. Apparently, she has money to burn or something. I'm guessing she's planning to win via her special ability. If she donates at least a quarter of her casino earnings to us, I have no objections in her going to casinos. I know you'll disapprove of it, but take a break! Alice is playing poker with other vampires!"

"Which local casino?"

"The one in Italy, I think. I can't remember."

"Esme, darling. Italy isn't local. It's on a completely different continent. Why's Alice playing poker with vampires there?"

"I don't know. Maybe ask Jasper when he returns?"

"Maybe. When's Emmett and Rosalie coming back? I'm a little hungry."

"They'll be back soon! I have some leftovers if you want."

I thought of reasons of why Alice would depart so quickly and unexpectedly for Italy. The Volturi (royal vampires) live there, and one of their lifelong goals was to 'collect' vampires with special, rare abilities to their cosy, little coven.

Vampires like Alice and Edward.

**Bella Swan**

I couldn't stop thinking of the handsome, striking Edward Cullen.

I thought of him as I walked from Forks Hospital to my other destinations, and couldn't stop reflecting my conversation with him.

He had the most gorgeous golden eyes I had ever seen.

I had actually never seen golden eyes before!

Edward's voice was melodious, and music to my ears! None of the songs on my iPod or phone can match Edward's musical, harmonious voice. I wondered whether it was fate or coincidence that Edward and I met a few hours ago, at Mike's death bed.

Charlie had called me back to the station, and he said it was an emergency.

"Hey dad," I said, entering his office.

"Bells," said Charlie seriously. "The case has gotten from bad to worse. A couple of my officers had found another body."

"Same as the first?"

"No. Are you brave enough to see the photos?"

"Yeah…I think. How bad can the pictures be?"

Charlie pulled a couple of photos out and placed them on his table, facing me. I glanced at him, and then at the photos.

At first glance, I saw a chunk of meat.

A _large_ chunk of meat.

After looking at it closely, my stomach turned, and I felt sick.

The chunk of meat had eyes, a hole (most likely a mouth) and a nose! The chunk of meat isn't a chunk of meat! It's human!

I grabbed the nearest bucket and vomited.

"Oh dear," said Charlie sympathetically, handing me a wad of tissues. "Hopefully you didn't eat any meat for lunch. Unfortunately, this crime was more heinous and monstrous than the first. Are you alright for more details?"

I nodded, wiping my forehead.

"The ME had identified the remains as William Wellington," said Charlie quietly. "There's no DNA or fibres on the body, that can lead us to solve the case. The only thing that I can think of that can connect both murders, is that Angela and William's sister Vicky, were best friends (when Angela was alive), and their families were close. Some could say that they're family friends. Only a couple of detectives agree with my theory. Others believe that both of the murders are separate cases. I just need something to tie both those cases together!"

I had stopped listening to Charlie, and thought more about Edward.

I wondered why I never had any siblings.

If I did, would they look and have traits like me? A thought struck me; what if _Edward's_ my older brother

and I have a little sister or two? Would I be happier than I am now?

Would Edward care and protect me?

"Bella!" said Charlie, interrupting my thought. "Why don't you go to the library or something? The other detectives will be coming in a couple of minutes, for our usual debate. Renee will kill me if I let you sit around here with nothing to do!"

I laughed.

Charlie wasn't joking about Renee killing him.

My parents were as opposite and night and day, or sea and land.

"I'll go and call up a friend," I said, standing up. "When will you come home tonight? I'll be cooking dinner by the way."

"That won't be necessary," said Charlie, with a small laugh. "You're not my maid or housekeeper! I'll buy a pizza, or maybe buy some three-minute noodles. You won't have to cook me dinner! I survived at least a decade on fast food before you came! I don't need proper meals, Bells. The most I had of proper meals was once a month at the most!"

"That won't do," I said disapprovingly.

Before he could reply or protest, his office phone rang.

"Police Chief Swan," Charlie said wearily. "Yes, I know. My daughter went to see him a couple of hours ago. What? You serious? Why are you telling me this? I know, but my cases are already stacked high, and there's a debate going on between my men. You sure? Thanks."

He hung up, his face grim.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I received news from Forks Hospital," he said grimly. "Mike Newton didn't die."


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter XI

**Bella Swan**

"No," I whispered, as white as a ghost. "That's not possible. I watched him die! I saw Mike die! He couldn't have lived!"

"I'm sorry Bells," said Charlie sympathetically. "You were quite close to him."

"But that's not possible! The doctor said-"

"The doctor? Dr Cullen was drugged and abducted, and kept a prisoner of his own car. He had no idea about Mike Newton. Mike's mother had agreed in giving Mike life support, and when one of my officers asked whether she had agreed to taking away the life support, _she_ had no idea what he was on about, and threatened to sue."

"I'd better go."

"Yeah. I'll see you later."

I was confused and shocked.

Is Edward involved in this? Did he drug his own father to kill Mike? Why would he kill Mike? He has no motive for it…

_Or does he?_

Contemplating my thoughts, I left and saw Jacob Black on the way.

"Hey Bells," said Jacob, flashing me a smile. "Heard that you're back in town! Haven't seen you in a long time either! Are you going to Forks High School, like the others? It'll be unlike you to ditch a few months of school to spend time with your dad!"

"I'm taking a holiday," I said, suddenly shy.

"Cool. Maybe we should get together sometime."

"Yeah, maybe. Are you working this case with my dad? He mentioned last night that you are a very bright detective-in-training."

"That's an exaggeration! Yeah, I am! A damn tricky case too!"

"Can you do me a favour?"

"Sure Bells. Just name it and it'll be done!"

"In the meeting today with the other people on the case, can you please agree with my dad that both murders are connected? He's really tired and protesting that he'll survive on fast food. I want him to eat a proper meal for once in his life!"

"Of course Bells! I guess I'll see you later!"

He flashed me another bright smile and went to Charlie's office.

I watched him go, and felt warm and fuzzy inside.

Why do I have weird feelings for both Edward and Jacob? Is it normal for a girl my age? I had feelings for Mike too…before I arrived at Forks.

Thinking of my guy problems, I walked out the police station.

In a few seconds, I found myself flat on my stomach on the pavement outside the station. I had tripped over the welcome mat again!

Every time I come here, I _always_ trip over the damn welcome mat!

"Let me help you," said a familiar, melodious voice.

Dazed, I looked up and saw Edward, holding out his hand, a charming smile on his face. What is he doing here at a time like this?!

I took his hand, and he pulled me up.

"I hate welcome mats," remarked Edward. "I tend to trip over them when I'm deep in thought. I see that you have a habit of tripping over them and landing on your stomach as well! What a coincidence! And why are you here?"

"I might ask you the same question," I said boldly.

"I heard about what happened to my father, and the phone call thing. I want to clean matters up before it gets serious. You?"

"My dad's Police Chief Swan."

"Ah, visiting your father on a nice sunny day. Very thoughtful of you. I've been thinking. Even though I only know you for a couple of minutes, I feel attracted to you. It might be a bit too soon, but I want to ask you out for dinner. Not like a date, but you know, to get to know you more. It'll be alright if you reject my offer, but it's just a suggestion."

"I won't mind! The problem is, that I promised my dad that I'll cook him dinner today."

"That's fine. When will you be available?"

"Tomorrow night will be great. Maybe we can exchange numbers? To keep in contact or something. I hope your meeting goes well with my dad."

We exchanged numbers, and I felt nothing but happiness.

Edward smiled again at me.

I shyly smiled back.

Edward stepped into the station, stopped and looked back at me.

"Bella," he called. "I love your smile. You should smile more often. Your eyes are beautiful. I love the brownness of them! Reminds me of chocolates. Especially the chocolates I love most. Your eyes are the most prettiest eyes I had ever saw in my life! Looking at you, I can write a love poem just about your facial features! I'll see you later!"

I watched Edward go into the station and ran off, squealing in delight.

I couldn't believe it!

Edward Cullen loved my eyes!

HE LOVED MY EYES!

I skipped home happily, knowing that I'll have happy dreams tonight. I couldn't believe that Edward invited me to dinner either!

When I arrived home, my mind was full of Edward, and I had forgotten Jacob and Mike.

**Edward Cullen**

It had occurred to me (when I was disposing William's body) that Bella looked a lot like Esme. Could she be the girl of my dreams and the one who suffers on behalf of Esme?

The more I thought of it, the more it bugged me.

Why didn't I see it earlier?

Why didn't I realise that the girl in my dreams is a replica of Esme? I can't love a girl who looks like the woman who ruined my life!

"Can I help you?" asked an officer.

"I'd like to see Police Chief Swan," I answered. "It's an emergency."

The officer went into a room.

I sat down and waited patiently.

A few minutes later, he returned with another man.

"I'm Police Chief Swan," said the man, extending his hand. "You requested to see me? I presume it has something to do with the case, since I told the officers to only allow people to see me if they have information relating to the case I'm working on. I'm guessing that the officer that you saw didn't tell you what he's supposed to."

"I work at Forks Hospital," I said, shaking his hand. "One of the junior doctors that was assigned to the late Mike Newton."

"Why don't we discuss this in my office? Tell me on the way, please."

"I had heard of what happened to Dr Cullen, so I thought to come straight here. I was the doctor that answered the call from Mike's mother that she gave permission for Mike's life support to be taken away. I didn't move the body, and-"

"Why don't you tell me from the start?"

"Well…there's nothing much to tell. All I can tell, is that after I took away life support, I went to wash my hands and get a cup of coffee. After that, I went back and the body was missing. I thought one of the other doctors had taken away the body, but when I asked them, they didn't know what I was talking about. After that, I came here."

"How long were you away from the body?"

"It took a bit of time in getting the coffee, and I had to wait in the bathroom line. Around ten to fifteen

minutes, I think. It could be a little shorter. Why don't you check the surveillance cameras? It should have a time stamp on it. Unfortunately, I wasn't wearing a watch earlier today, and my phone was turned off, due to hospital protocol."

"Of course. I'll have a look. And your name?"

"Thomas Willoughby."

"Well, Thomas Willoughby! It's my pleasure to meet you! I'll keep you contacted of what happens in the case! Thank you for coming here."

"No problems."

I shook hands with Police Chief Swan again, and departed.

Hopefully what I did would save me from suspicion, and not a mistake. What I said to him, I don't believe. I could tell that my lies weren't as good as I hoped they would be, but what's done is done. I can't go back in time to fix it up.

I happened to glance at the window of Police Chief Swan's office, and noticed a large, framed photo of Bella hanging across the window.

I had the urge to rip the photo from the wall and stamp on it.

I wanted to scream and rip it to pieces, bringing out all my anger of Esme, onto the harmless photo of a girl who just looked like her! I wanted to bring out all my hatred of the woman who made my life miserable for half a century!

At the same time, I wanted to cherish the photo, love it and keep it.

_What is wrong with me?!_

I noticed Police Chief Swan staring at me, and I looked away.

I planned to steal the photo as soon as I can. That way, Bella can be with me everywhere. Even if I hate or love her in my mood swings.

For a split second, I wondered if I had the heart to kill anymore.

Do I really need to take my anger out on humans?

Humans haven't done much to hurt me, apart from the fact that some of them look like the vampires that made my life Hell, and their pungent scents drove me crazy when I first became a vampire. Their blood make me hard to concentrate, and made me distracted easily, but they don't deserve to die because of their blood scent!

Shouldn't I take out my anger on vampires?

_No,_ I chided myself. _If I kill vampires and the Volturi finds out, I'm screwed. Taking revenge on humans is much easier. Not much of a fuss._

I drove home and had no heart to practise my sadistic experiments on Mike today. I glanced at the table where I experimented with William.

It still had blood stains on it from earlier.

Hours past, and I sat, thinking of Bella.

After a while, I decided that I can't go on living life, without the framed photo of Bella. I can't kill people without the photo of Bella. I can't do anything without that photo of Bella. I need Bella to know that what I'm doing, is all for her.

The people I killed, are both for her.

Suddenly, I was struck with a brilliant idea.

I decided to present my sweet, darling Bella the hearts of my victims! The only way I can do that, is to retrieve the corpses, and rip out the hearts, polish and preserve them, and put them on tissues in two small, pretty boxes!

I'm such a genius for thinking that out!

Now, the first hurdle.

To find Angela Weber's body.

After disposing her body, at least two days have passed, so the police must've already retrieved the corpse and placed it in their morgue.

To find the morgue, I'll need my laptop.

I decided to leave Mike the way he is (maybe he can die of starvation) until my Bella is with me. Mike will be another present I'll give Bella. She'll have the pleasure of watching Mike die, first-class. If I was Bella, it would be the best present I would've ever received. Maybe I would let her help kill Mike. A minor killing part, of course.

Lucky for me, Forks isn't a particularly large place, and only around two morgues in it. Hopefully I can find the right one fast.

Today was a day when internet connections were slow.

I grew impatient, and even thought of throwing my laptop onto the ground!

_No,_ I told myself. _Bella wouldn't have wanted it. To please Bella, you'll have to be patient. Even if it's slow, it'll be worth it. Think about it. Bella would be so happy. Whatever I do, is for Bella. Bella will be angry if you don't give her a present!_

The motivation worked.

I waited for three hours, and finally the webpage showed up!

As I predicted, there were two morgues (Forks Mortuary and Forks Morgue) in Forks, and the more popular one was Forks Morgue.

Instinct told me that Police Chief Swan would more likely go to Forks Mortuary to speed up the process, but I also considered the crime rate in Forks, which was pretty low. He could've placed Angela's body in either one of those morgues.

I looked up efficient Medical Examiners and found that most of them are clustered in Forks Morgue, while only a couple are in Forks Mortuary.

A trip to Forks Morgue it is!

**Police Chief Charlie Swan**

Young Jacob is an officer to be proud of!

That thoughtful young man had agreed with my theory, while most of the other detectives argued against it and thought of it as rubbish.

If only Bella's interested in him! That would make my life almost complete.

I must've drank at least ten cups of coffee today, to concentrate on the case.

If I wasn't given a case, I could spend more time with my Bells.

At the end of a long, tiring meeting, the other officers and detectives were convinced that my theory was the most likely to prove, and agreed to go with it for now. I left the station to go to Forks Morgue to check out the corpses.

Hopefully it won't take too long.

Bella would probably be disappointed if I don't turn up for dinner.

I felt bad for not caring properly for Bella when she was younger, and refusing custody of her when I was offered it.

"Police Chief Swan," said the ME, opening the door.

"Hello Dr Anderson," I answered. "How's the bodies? I'd like the autopsy reports and is there any similarities between them?"

"Here's the report."

"Thank you. And any similarities?"

"Both the killing styles are different, and it's obvious that the killer has a different _Modus Operandi_ for each body, but after digging through more reports and examinations on the bodies, I found an unusual, but definite connection between the two bodies. I'm actually quite surprised that such a well-organised killer would leave his DNA on his victims."

"There's DNA?"

"I know. I was just as surprised as you when I found out. The problem is, that the DNA doesn't match any blood on our system."

"Of Washington?"

"No. All of the United States. I checked through the database for DNA matches, and none matched. I don't even know if it's DNA now."

"You're one of the best MEs in Forks!"

"Thanks for the compliment, but this type is different. I assumed it's DNA, and I looked in the database

in all of the United States for both blood types and DNAs!"

"And?"

"Take a look yourself. It's in the form of blood, but it doesn't match any blood type, but it's not a typical type of DNA either!"

"Not saliva? Hair samples?"

"It's deep in the body of both victims."

"Do you know which parts?"

"On Miss Weber, his DNA was injected through her hand. On Mr Wellington, all his fingers were injected with DNA. I also think that both of them were injected with a drug that contains something that makes you feel like you have arthritis. That's definite in Mr Wellington, but not too obvious in Miss Weber. When he died, he died in pain."

"I see that Angela was burnt to death and William skinned alive."

"Both painful deaths."

"I know. Can I see the bodies?"

"Of course. Just follow me. Come."

I followed Dr Anderson into another room, and almost crashed into him, as he suddenly halted in front of the door.

"What is it?" I said urgently.

"The body!" gasped Dr Anderson. "Someone's been here-"

I pushed him aside, and pulling out my gun, I ran into the room.

On the table, the body was different from the last time I saw it. Very different. There was large, bloodless cuts on the frozen, charred body.

"Is this even possible?" I asked.

"That someone attacked the body?" said Dr Anderson, glancing at the body in distaste. "No. This morgue is under high protection the whole time! It's impossible for someone to break into and create such a big, bloodless cut on a body!"

"No. Can a burnt body still um, look like this?"

"Pardon?"

"What do you think happened to the body to make it look like this?"

"I'll have to re-examine the corpse before I can tell you what exactly happened to it, but I can tell you that the attacker was aiming for the heart area."

"Why isn't it bloody?"

"It's quite scientific. The only thing I can tell you, is that once the body thaws a bit, the blood in the body will be jelly-like, and may ooze out."

"Okay…I'll check out surveillance of the morgue. How long will it take for you to look and re-examine the body for answers?"

"Um…half an hour, if you want DNA-"

"No. Just what happened to it. DNA isn't on the list of important matters right now. I have other things to attend to, then chase after the person who's DNA matches him or her. I'm surprised that the killer didn't rape Angela due to his sadism."

"Yeah, same here. If you don't want DNA check, then it'll take around twenty minutes. I'll call you when I finish the re-examination."

I nodded and went to the surveillance room.

The door was closed, and locked.

I pulled out my gun and kicked the door open.

The surveillance officers were all on the ground, unconscious (or dead), and all the surveillance cameras were turned off.

Someone had broken into the morgue.

I stepped into the room and noticed that the wires and cords used to operate the surveillance cameras had been neatly cut.

It'll cost millions to repair them.

"I need back up," I murmured into my walkie talkie watch. "There might be a murder in Forks Morgue,

and an ambulance is needed with paramedics as quickly as possible. There might be a couple of officers down already. This is Police Chief Swan."

Grimacing, I bent over and felt for a pulse beat on an officer.

There was a faint one.

I groaned as I looked around. How hard can this case get?! Whenever I have a feeling that the case will get better, the case only gets worse.

In this case, I already have two bodies (one with her heart missing) and an abduction to solve, and now this! It's such a bonus cherry on top. In a bad way. I hoped the surveillance officers are still alive, to help me with this case.

I examined the wires.

Even if a technician tries to put them back together, it won't be any good.

The surveillance tapes had been removed.

That bastard is on my nerves! He knows how to avoid being caught (and leave his DNA on his victims), rip apart surveillance tapes and machines, abduct a doctor, knock out three officers without making a fuss, breaking into a well-secured morgue and rip out the heart of a body without much of a mess! It seemed impossible to find him!

"This'll cost," commented a morgue officer, behind me. "What kind of guy can do this?"

"No idea," I murmured. "I can't think of any human being that can possibly kill and escape the authorities like this. The only thing that comes to my mind that can actually commit such a heinous crime, is a monster."


End file.
